





























\ 


0 o 



<^0 










, N«^ v^' 

^ C' \’ '^ 

X 




vT rv 
^ C\'^ 

-"\<f s' 

V - 

\J^ 

I>. -i 

v-*^ s r <1^ "' 




'V 


C 

L W ^ 




0 


JJ 

HW^ t ''° o'^ .° 

: ^-i -v^ , 

^ -tt 




.0 





^ C' 

- \V ^ 

' '^- o Y// ?^<c<\SSy . .<^ 'S^. 

^ '> ’>^, v> ■'i/^^\jv^ ,vr <" 



'K<r c' 

o ^ 


vX\ 


z 


O aV />„ 
aV '/>, 



c.^ ' 

^ s 

ox-^ ^ 

, « '^-> ^ 0 , X 0 ^ o 

" C 0^ * 

“■ ’ ^ >- 


C\J C* y «f O 

s ^ '^/> "^ ■'> s 0 ^ X'V' 

: .* 


" ,x'^' A “‘ 



✓ ^ A *Kj 

y X c^ tj. 

^ j <^ \ <D y 



0 if. s 




:i 


x0°^. 



.0^ c « '<p^ 

■» _r-«X^(V . 'f' 

H. 



" '*b o' 

. A. , 

r 5i 



> ’> •>*. ' 



\ 

y -V iV 

' v^ 

« ^ ^ 

<■ 0 o ”■ '^' 




^ -0- 



I 1 '^ . - f ^ ^ 9 N 0 ’ \\'' , . 

\V . ' 'f \> ^ ^ " 

^ '^- V. ^ ^ ^ 

C-^^PWkL55 ^^r* .\\* 


n0°-<. 

> 

8 I ^ S "» <■ / ^ N 0 ^ 

aA JSSC^^iew ' 


Y. ,A^’ ^ 

'V 



' 0 > X lO 

*1 •o'^ 




-^b "’' .0 

x * i^ff/^ f '''' 






^ 0 t 


V 








*i^ ^ 

ty ^ 

O ' 0 o \ - . 


// . 
4 


.O ‘ 

.-O' ,c ''■ 

^ «;:>C 0 \\. 






o 

^ > V 


0 


^ ^ ^ j 

rZ^ H ^ 1 *> ' ^ 

-t. ^ 8 , A ^ . 


>. 


Ki 


NV s;.^ , 

ll 3 C-> 


^ it ^ 


*' -p 

<■ .Oo^ * ^ 

^ \ X. V 








o 


s" .A 

'A ,Y^ -i ' ■< 

A X. 

^ * .To ’” /■ T. " *'rr^ “ 'T^ . 

■". ,•{. '■j\'%«f’/u o ■=* /A" ♦ 

A/' .\V. * ^ ^ 7. 

> tfV/ 




.0 q. 

A */’ 


'■ .A ' 3 /^ ^ 0 ^ A 

vA'' «' ' ® « . 0 * «' 

v'^ '-^ 

' ' ■"'^ 0^ " 

' ,,^^ T V, 




^Otl. rl^ ^ .0 H ^ 

O' s ^ ^ A C' V’ 

aA ' V 


T 


OQ 


< 


^ it <t 





§M'^' ^'- \ .i.^^ ^ 

■>''M^\%. A- %0,‘i- 

- t/' \V « 2 ' 5 ^ ^ 

tr 




V ,i0 


Vi 

^ 0 . X ■" N C -'T 

.- 0 ^ C ^ 









if 

















THE ORCUTT GIRLS 


V 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS ; or, One Term at 
the Academy. By Charlotte M. Vaile. 
315 pages. With five lull-page Illustrations 
by Frank T. Merrill. Cloth. i2mo. 


In Preparation. 

SUE ORCUTT. By Charlotte M. Vaile. 
330 pages. Illustrated. Cloth. i2mo. ^^1.50. 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS 


OR 


ONE TERM AT THE ACADEMY 


BY 






CHARLOTTE M?"Va1LE 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

FRANK T. MERRILL 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 

W. A. WILDE & COMPANY 
25 Bromfield Street 


Copyright, 1896, 

By W. a. Wilde & Company. 
All rights reserved. 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 
V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 
XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 




An Exciting Question 

Leaving Home 

An Introduction to New Scenes 

The First Glimpse of Merton Academy 

The Beginning of a Struggle 

Sue becomes a Member of the Cicero Class 
A Triu3iph which turns into Sudden Defeat 
Sue makes a Visit to the Library and overhears a 
Bit of rather Interesting Conversation 
The Little Dressmaker comes to Sue’s Rescue 
Sue has an Interview with Mr. Theophilus Hermon 
Sue takes her Turn as Head of the Household 
The Housekeeper makes an Important Purchase 
Sue celebrates her Triumphs, and the Little Dress- 
maker GIVES her Friends Some Good Advice 
The Girls receive an Invitation . . . J . 

A Taste of Society 

Dick makes a Call 

Sue receives an Unexpected Appointment . 

In Mr. Hermon’s Study 

Dick himself 

The Question of Sue’s Future is under Discussion . 
The Last Days 


PAGE 

9 

35 

44 

60 

74 

83 

92 

107 

117 

130 

141 

156 

173 

190 

202 

226 

243 

263 

280 

292 

305 


5 





ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGK 

The deacon rendered his complete report ” Frontispiece 32 

“A considerable congregation had gathered in the au- 
dience room of the square, old-fashioned church ’’ . 61 

The Wizard of the North had her completely in his 
power ’’ 113 

Sue makes a purchase 163 

The Orcutt girls go into society 205 


7 


i 



% 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


CHAPTER I. 

AN EXCITING QUESTION. 

~YT was the first of November, and twilight had 
stolen in at the windov^s of the Westville 
Corset Factory early. Apparently it had come too 
early to suit the wishes of most of the girls who 
sat in the long workroom sewing. The wheels of 
the stitching machines (they had not yet begun 
to turn by steam) whirled faster as the daylight 
faded, and the score or more of needlewomen who 
did the finishing work bent lower over their tasks, 
with now and then an anxious glance at the dark- 
ening windows. 

It was not quite an ordinary factory. There 
were no ignorant, untidy-looking women with 
faces hardened into an expression of grim endur- 
ance, and there were no children aged beyond 
9 


lO 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


their years with a monotonous round of hard work 
and ill-usage. The occupants of the cleanly, com- 
fortable workroom were a cheerful, intelligent- 
looking company of girls and' women, many of 
them 3^oung and some decidedly pretty and at- 
tractive. 

The truth was, the corset factory of Westville 
was a new enterprise, but lately established in 
the quiet New England village, and had been 
welcomed by the people as a substantial addition 
to the industry of the place. Respectable spin- 
sters, who, before the decline of the straw business, 
had increased their small revenues by weaving 
palm-leaf into hats, or shaping braid into fashion- 
able bonnets, were glad to employ their idle hours 
in the work of making corsets, and the daughters 
of farmers and tradesmen, with no necessity ex- 
cept the longing of energetic young people to help 
themselves, felt no sense of degradation in employ- 
ing a portion of their time — often a vacation 
between terms of school — in a place where their 
labors brought a substantial return in the shape 
of actual money. 

It was easy to guess that the two young girls 
who sat at the lower end of the room, their heads 


AN EXCITING QUESTION. I i 

just visible above the pile of work which lay on 
the table before them, belonged to this latter class, 
and a keen observer would have surmised with 
equal readiness that they were sisters. The needle 
of one of them flew with a steady swiftness, but 
the other had been sewing for some time with an 
absent look in her eyes, and it was plain that her 
thoughts had little connection with the monotonous 
shapes of gray and white drilling which passed 
slowly through her hands. She started, and gave 
herself an impatient little shake, as her energetic 
companion rose for the third time in the course of 
an hour and rolled up a bundle of finished work. 

declare, Bertha,” she exclaimed in a half- 
exasperated tone, I don’t see how you can sew 
as you do this afternoon. That’s the seventh 
dozen you’ve finished since dinner, isn’t it?” 

The ninth,” replied her sister calmly. 

Oh dear, and this is only my fifth ! ” sighed 
the other. I might as well stop work for to-day. 
It’s no use trying to sew when you can’t keep 
your mind on it two minutes at a time.” 

^‘1 don’t see why you can’t keep your mind on 
it,” said Bertha in a judicial tone. don’t find 
it so very difficult.” 


12 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


said the other dejectedly, perhaps it’s 
because I have so little mind anyway that one 
idea seems to take up all the room there is in it. 
I tell you, Bertha, when I think of all that’s 
going on to-day, and remember that our fate is 
hanging in the balance, it’s next to impossible for 
me to sit here and sew down tapes on these cor- 
sets. The only thing in this world that has the 
slightest interest for me just now is the question 
whether or not you and I are going to Merton 
Academy this winter.” 

Perhaps the calm industry of Bertha was not 
really due to a phlegmatic temper. The color 
rose in her cheeks as her sister spoke, and there 
was a quiver of excitement at the corners of her 
soft red lips, but the rate at which h*er needle 
flew was, if possible, faster than before. 

It isn’t out of my mind either. Sue,” she 
said, ^^and I guess I want to go just as badly as 
you do ; but there’s one thing certain, if we’re 
going away to school this winter, we’ve got to 
earn all the money we can beforehand. There’s 
the tuition, and the books, and the room rent, 
besides the new clothes we shall need and — ” 

Oh, I don’t care if I don’t have any new 


AN EXCITING QUESTION. 


13 


clothes,” interrupted Sue; I’d be willing to wear 
anything for the sake of going. I say, Bertha, 
let’s swap our old cashmere dresses ! You don’t 
know where the thin places are in mine, and I 
don’t know where they are in yours. It would 
be as good as having new ones.” 

Bertha laughed. I know where the spots are 
on yours, especially that ink spot on the sleeve. 
No, thank you, I prefer to keep my own.” 

I could put some trimming over the ink 
spot,” said Sue. ^^’Tisn’t very big. However, I 
won’t insist on the exchange, if you can’t see the 
advantages. But really, Bertha, I don’t think we 
shall have to spend much money on clothes, do 
you ? Don’t you know, in stories the girls who 
distinguish themselves at school, and carry off 
the prizes, always wear shabby dresses, and are 
laughed at by the others.” 

I don’t believe the shabby dresses helped them 
any,” said the elder sister discreetly, ‘^and I’m 
sure it wouldn’t be very pleasant to be laughed 
at.” 

No,” said Sue reflectively, unless one knew 
beforehand that it was part of the story, and that 
those who laughed would be put to confusion in 


14 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


the end. I think I could stand it if some good 
fairy would assure me of that.” 

Well,” she added, rising, I’ve finished this 
dozen at last. You ought to congratulate me.” 

I do most sincerely,” said Bertha. She glanced 
at the work which her sister was tying into a bun- 
dle, then suddenly bent over it with an expression 
of dismay. 

Sue Orcutt ! ” she exclaimed. If you aren’t 
the unluckiest girl ! I do believe you’ve hemmed 
every one of those tapes down on the wrong side.” 

Sue dropped the string, and clasped her hands 
with a gesture of despair. Oh,” she groaned, to 
think that after all my heroic efforts to keep at 
work I should make a mistake like that ! Bertha, 
why didn’t you look in my direction sooner ? You’d 
have seen it if you had, and stopped me. Well,” 
she continued, in a tone of utter exasperation, I 
suppose there’s nothing for me to do now but take 
the work out. I detest sewing tapes ! I believe 
I’ll ask to be put onto some other kind of work. 
I’m sure I could set eyelets without making such 
blunders.” 

I wouldn’t advise you to try,” said Bertha, who 
had laid down her own work and was ripping away 


AN EXCITING QUESTION 


15 


at her sister’s unlucky stitches. A machine is a 
thing that has to be attended to in good earnest, 
and you’d be sure to put an eyelet through your 
finger the first time you got to dreaming. I tell 
you, Sue,” she added, feeling that the moment was 
ripe for a bit of sisterly admonition, if you could 
only get over this habit of dreaming, you’d find 
’twould be a tremendous saving of time.” 

I don’t doubt it,” said the girl mournfully, 
but you see it steals over you before you fairly 
know it, and it seems as if you couldn’t help your- 
self. Of course, though, you don’t understand, for 
your thoughts never go wandering off like mine. 
Well, after to-day I mean to turn over a new leaf. 
If it’s only decided that you and I can go to Mer- 
ton Academy, I shall work like a Trojan, see if I 
don’t.” 

She settled to her task again, and fpr the next 
ten minutes worked with an energy that argued 
well for her latent powers. Happily, the strain for 
that day was nearly at an end. A young woman, 
who had been absent from the workroom for a few 
minutes and was hurrying back to her place, paused 
for an instant beside the table. 

Your father has just driven up, girls,” she said. 


1 6 the orcutt girls. 

^^and he wants to know if you are ready to go 
home.” 

Sue dropped her scissors and started to her feet. 

He must have gotten back from Merton,” she said 
breathlessly. Now we shall know everything.” 

She jerked off the work-apron which covered her 
plain woollen dress, dropped it onto the pile of un- 
finished work, and flew to the cloak room without 
waiting for her sister. Bertha followed more slowly. 
It was evident that she, too, felt the excitement of 
the moment, but she laid her own work and her 
sister’s in order, and swept up the shreds and cut- 
tings from the floor with scrupulous care before she 
left her place. It was one of the regulations of the 
room which Sue had forgotten. 

The latter was seated in the spring wagon beside 
her father, plying him with questions, when Bertha 
joined them a few minutes later, but apparently she 
had not yet learned anything very definite on the 
all-absorbing topic. Deacon Orcutt was a man who 
always magnified his office when he was the bearer 
of important news. He had spent the greater part 
of the day in the village of Merton, investigating 
the cost of a term at the academy, and the ways 
and means by which two frugal young people could 


AN EXCITING QUESTION. 


17 


avail themselves of its advantages. It had been a 
great day, and he did not propose to shorten its 
story by informing his impetuous daughter all in 
a breath what the exact outcome of his labors had 
been. In answer to her hurrying questions, ^^Can 
we go, father? Would it cost more than we can 
possibly afford ? ” he drew his cheerful countenance 
into a reflective expression and replied discreetly, 
^^Well, my dear, there are a great many things to 
be taken into consideration. I’ve canvassed the 
ground pretty thoroughly, you may be sure of that ; 
but of course we can’t decide on anything positively 
till we’ve talked it all over with your mother. 

It’s astonishing,” he continued, gathering up the 
reins and giving a cluck” to his horse, ‘^how it 
carried me back to old times to be walking about 
in Merton to-day. It’s thirty years since I was a 
student there, but the old place hasn’t changed 
any to speak of. I saw the very room I had when 
I boarded at Dr. Taylor’s, and I declare it’s got 
the same furniture in it that it had then.” 

presume it rents for a higher price,” said 
Bertha, who had a mind for practical details, and 
was anxious to side-track her father before he 
should get fairly off on a train of reminiscence. 


1 8 the orcutt girls. 

^^Yes, there’s some difference in that respect,” 
admitted the deacon, ^^but I didn’t board mysejf 
as you girls are going to do. I was a regular 
boarder in the doctor’s family, and paid so much 
for everything.” 

He paused, and Sue pounced upon the admission 
he had inadvertently made with the eagerness of 
a hawk swooping down on an unwary chicken. 

Then you did decide that we can go, and we 
shall board ourselves ! ” she cried rapturously. 

Oh, father, tell us what sort of rooms we’re to 
have, and what kind of people live in the house.” 

^‘That depends, my dear, on which rooms vre 
take,” said the deacon, finding himself fairly caught. 

didn’t say I’d actually engaged any of ’em. We 
must talk it all over with your mother, you know. 
But I’ll tell you this, there isn’t anything there in 
the shape of rooms to rent that I haven’t had my 
eye on, you can depend on that.” 

The cheerfulness of his manner went far to sup- 
ply the assurance he was so careful not to give in 
words, and Sue settled back with the air of one 
who felt that she had a right to hope. 

^^The rooms I liked best of all,” pursued the 
deacon, ^^were at Mr. Jordan’s, up on Fair Street. 


AN EXCITING QUESTION. 


19 


There were really three of ’em, a nice little sitting- 
room with a bran’ - new carpet on the floor, and a 
bed-room, sort of curtained oft’ from it, — I believe 
they called it an alcove, — and a good-sized kitchen 
all fitted up for housekeeping, and everything snug 
and handy.” 

Oh, how nice ! ” cried both the girls, in a 
breath, and Sue added in her impulsive way, 
^^Why didn’t you engage those rooms right on 
the spot, father ? I’m sure they would have suited 
us exactly.” 

So they would, my dear,” said the deacon 
heartily. They’d have suited you to a T. But 
the fact is, the price was a little too high. There 
wasn’t another objection in the world, not one ; 
but when they named the figures, I knew in a 
minute they’d never do for us.” 

And he named the figures again, the mention 
of which drew a faint little Oh-h ” from Bertha, 
and lengthened Sue’s face decidedly. It really 
seemed to her that her father might have spared 
the description of those charming rooms since they 
were so obviously out of the question. 

The deacon, however, pursued his tale in a tone 
of unabated cheerfulness. ^^How-some-ever, I found 


20 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


some other rooms that suited me just about as 
well. There wasn’t a separate sitting-room, but 
the kitchen and bedroom were good size, both of 
’em, and on the sunny side of the house. The 
bedroom had a dormer window, and everything 
looked nice and comfortable. They were at Cap- 
tain Hoffman’s. The captain followed the sea for 
twenty years, but he’s settled down on shore now, 
and I guess he likes to add a little to his income 
by renting part of his house.” 

Well, I’m sure those were good rooms,” said 
Bertha ; and Sue, who had been deeply impressed 
by the mention of the dormer window, added cor- 
dially, I think we could get along with those 
beautifully.” 

That’s what I thought myself,” said the deacon 
approvingly ; that’s just the way I looked at it. 
And I should have taken those rooms then and 
there, — they didn’t come near so high as the others, 
— but the trouble was they were already engaged. 
It seems that a couple of young men from Wood- 
stock spoke for ’em a week ago.” 

Sue gave an exasperated groan now. ‘‘ Oh, 
father,” she said piteously, don’t tell us any 
more about the rooms we cant have ! Did you 


AN EXCITING QUESTION. 


21 


find any that were cheap enough for us, and that 
nobody else had spoken for ? It’s awful to think 
you’re going to have something, and when you 
get your mouth fairly open for it, have it jerked 
away again.” 

I don’t quite see the force of your figure, my 
child,” said her father mildly. 

His imagination was not as lively as hers, and 
he had not as recently read the story of Tantalus. 
Then he added in a slightly injured tone, I 
thought you’d be interested in hearing about those 
rooms. I had to look round a good while before 
I came to the ones I settled on. ’Tisn’t my way 
to begin at the tail end of a story, but if that’s 
what you want, why. I’ll try to gratify you.” 

Sue felt rather ashamed of her burst of impatience. 

Why, you see, pater,” she said, sitting closer 
to him and giving an apologetic little squeeze to 
his arm, it depends on how you look at a story 
which is the ^tail end’ of it. Now, to my mind, 
the very head and front of this story is the ques- 
tion whether you really found any rooms for us, 
and what they’re like. It’s tremendously interest- 
ing about those other rooms, but I’d rather have 
that for an after-part.” 


22 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


All right,” said the deacon, whose forgiving 
spirit was proof even against a criticism on his 
methods as a story-teller. I won’t keep you in 
suspense a minute longer. I did find some rooms 
that you girls can have — that is, if your mother 
approves. Of course we can’t settle on anything 
without her. They weren’t quite as nice as those 
others I’ve been telling you about, but taking every- 
thing into account, specially the price, I concluded 
they were the very ones we wanted. They were 
at Deacon Porter’s. The deacon’s an old man now. 
He used to take roomers as long ago as when I 
went to the Academy myself, and I believe he’ll 
take a friendly interest in you on my account, 
though he does say I bothered him awfully one 
term by hanging so many May -baskets to the girls 
that were rooming there.” 

He paused for a moment with a little chuckle, 
then added, I don’t know, for my part, how he 
found out that I did it. I’m sure I never was seen 
hanging round there after I’d rung the door-bell, 
but I suppose he made a clever guess at it. I was 
considered rather a gay young fellow in those days. 

^^Well, as I was saying, the rooms are at his 
house \ they’re in the ell, over the kitchen and din- 


AN EXCITING QUESTION. 


23 


ing-room, sort of attic rooms, you know, with the 
roof sloping on both sides. However, they’re not 
too low to be comfortable, and the deacon says it’s 
uncommonly easy to warm ’em. That’ll be quite 
a saving in the way of fuel, you know.” 

He instinctively glanced at Bertha as he added 
the last remark. It was she who was most likely 
to appreciate a detail of this kind, and she nodded 
a quick approval. Sue was eagerly waiting for 
some detail of more aesthetic interest. 

The kitchen is the larger,” continued the dea- 
con, “and I thought that would be your main liv- 
ing-room. There’s nothing in it now except the 
stove, but we can furnish it ourselves. That would be 
the cheapest way, and it wouldn’t be much trouble 
to take up a little load of furniture. It’s a good 
sized room, and has a closet off from it, and a pantry 
big enough to do your cooking and wash the dishes 
in, if you want to.” 

If he had only mentioned an alcove or a dormer 
window, it would have had a more exhilarating 
effect upon the spirits of his younger daughter. 
Closets and pantries were useful places, no doubt, 
but they were dreadfully commonplace. Perhaps, 
however, the charm of these apartments lay outside. 


24 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


Did you notice the view from the windows ? ” 
she asked rather anxiously. 

The deacon bethought himself. don't know 
as I did,” he said reflectively; then with a bright- 
ening recollection he added, ^^Oh yes, the long 
window, that’s the one at the end of the kitchen, 
looks right out towards the woodhouse. I noticed 
that in particular. It’s chuck full of good, dry 
wood, and the deacon said you could have all you 
wanted at just what it cost him.” 

Sue winced in spite of herself, but Bertha re- 
sponded in a cordial tone, That’s reasonable, I’m 
sure.” 

^^So ’tis,” said her father, ^^and I think you’ll 
find the deacon a reasonable man every way. He 
wants things sort of quiet round him, and I don’t 
blame him a mite for that. He said he let the 
rooms to a couple of boys last winter, who kept up 
such a racket, and had such a crowd of company all 
the time that he couldn’t stand it. But I told him 
he wouldn’t have any trouble with you girls on that 
score. If you came to Merton, you’d come to study, 
and I guessed you wouldn’t have much time for 
foolishness.” 

No indeed,” said both girls in a breath, and then 


AN EXCITING QUESTION. 


25 


Sue asked a little wistfully, ^^But isn’t there any- 
body except old people in the house?” 

I didn’t hear of any young ones,” replied her 
father; ^^but there’s a little black-eyed dressmaker 
that seems to be pretty much at home there, and 
from what I saw of her I’ll venture to say she’s as 
smart as a steel-trap, and downright good company.” 

How he discovered this in the minute which, as 
he said, the little dressmaker spent in flitting 
through the rooms, did not appear, but the deacon 
had a penetrating instinct in some directions. 

There was a minute’s silence, which Sue spent in 
mentally adjusting herself to the surroundings her 
father had sketched. They were prosaic enough, 
yet after the first momentary disappointment she did 
not find herself wholly depressed. There was a 
touch of the Bohemian in the girl, and more than 
a touch of the Yankee genius for making the best 
of things. She remembered suddenly that attic 
rooms had been more than once the abiding-place 
of poets and artists, and that she was rather fond of 
them herself on gray, dreamy days, when the rain 
fell softly on the low, sloping roof. Her heart 
warmed towards those bare little rooms, and the 
warmth became a positive glow when she thought 


26 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


of them as the place where she should spend long, 
blissful hours in study. It was almost a year since 
she and Bertha had outgrown the district schools 
of Westville, and to be a student again, busy with 
the books she loved, this, in itself, would make any 
place a paradise to her. 

It was Bertha who broke the silence by saying to 
her father, ^^I suppose you went to the Academy 
and found out about books and tuition.” 

^^Yes,” said the deacon, ‘‘1 looked into that 
pretty thoroughly too. In fact, I had a talk with 
Mr. Hermon himself about your coming. He’ll be 
glad to have you in the school this winter, though 
I kind of thought ’t would have suited him better if 
you’d been a couple of boys fitting for Yale or 
Harvard.” 

H’m ! ” said Bertha, stiffening her neck, and 
Sue inwardly resolved that she’d show the mis- 
guided principal of Merton Academy whether girls 
were not as desirable as boys, when once she was 
enrolled among his pupils. 

You see,” pursued the deacon, ^^the Academy’s 
been running down as to numbers of late years, 
^ all owing to the petty little , high schools that are 
springing up in all the towns around,’ as Mr. 


AN EXCITING QUESTION. 


27 


Hermon says, and he feels rather sore over it. 
He told me there was getting to be quite a senti- 
ment, even in Merton, that they’d better turn the 
old Academy itself into a high school, but he 
fights that, tooth and nail. He says the school 
may be small, but they shan’t lower the standard 
in Ms day. It’s always had the reputation of 
giving the best fit for college of any school in the 
state, and of turning out a splendid set of young 
people into the bargain. That’s the sort of repu- 
tation he values, and I guess there’s no danger 
but that the school will keep it, as long as he 
stands at the head.” 

^^Is he an old man?” asked Sue, beginning to 
feel a personal interest in the principal of Merton 
Academy. 

^‘Well, Mr. Hermon must be in the neighbor- 
hood of sixty,” replied her father. He was him- 
self approaching fifty, and was beginning to be a 
little careful how he called people old. He 
shows his age some, too,” he continued, “that is, 
physically; but, bless you, his mind’s as keen as 
ever. He’s a remarkable man, Mr. Hermon is. I 
suppose he’s one of the first classical scholars in 
the country, and he’s more than once had the 


28 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS, 


offer of a professorship in college. A few years 
ago he had one at double the salary he has now, 
but he refused it outright, in fact, wouldn’t con- 
sider the proposition a minute, and when one of 
his friends urged the pecuniary consideration, he 
treated it almost as an insult ; said he knew lohat 
his own work was, and where it was, and couldn’t 
conceive what bearing the question of more money 
had on it one way or another. Oh, he’s an un- 
usual character. You’ll find that out.” 

The girls were deeply impressed, especially Sue. 
She felt her heart warm towards the principal of 
Merton Academy in spite of his ungenerous prefer- 
ence for boys ; and while her father and Bertha 
discussed various matters connected with the rent- 
ing of rooms and the cost of living in Merton, 
she occupied herself with imagining his personal 
appearance. He was tall, she was sure, with a 
noble head and fine, clear-cut face, though as to 
the latter, she was not quite decided whether it 
were of the Grecian or Roman type. His delight 
in the classics rather suggested the former, but his 
sturdy standing at his post, in spite of discour- 
agements at home and allurements abroad, inclined 
her to the latter view. He was scrupulous in his 


AN EXCITING QUESTION. 


29 


dress, of course, and most dignified in his man- 
ners; in fact, quite ^^a gentleman of the old 
school,’’ whatever that phrase might mean. Sue 
was not exactly clear herself as to its full signifi 
cance, but she liked the sound of it. 

She settled all this as they jogged along the 
quiet country road, and the square, old-fashioned 
farmhouse, which was known through all the 
region round as the Orcutt place,” was reached 
before she knew it. The door was thrown open 
by a troop of children, who ranged in size from 
herself down to a rosy-cheeked counterpart, who 
could not have been more than six years old. 
Mrs. Orcutt, a tall, dignified-looking woman, ap- 
peared for a moment in the background, sent a 
swift, comprehensive glance towards the wagon 
and its occupants, and disappeared again, leaving 
the children to shout the question on which the 
interest of the whole family evidently centred. 

‘^Oh, father, father, are the girls going to Mer- 
ton this winter?” 

The deacon checked his horse with a sonorous 
‘‘whoa^' and regarded the group in the doorway 
for a moment with a benignant smile, before he 
answered, ^^Well, children, I’m not sure as they’re 


30 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


going, and I’m not sure hut lohat they re going ” 
(this last with considerably more emphasis) ; then 
he added, as he climbed rather stiffly out of the 
wagon, we’ll see about it.” 

The little company were apparently satisfied, 
and they dispersed with a whoop of delight, leaving 
the older girls to enter with flushed faces and a 
sense of unusual importance. 

It was indeed an exciting time in that simple 
country household. There was by no means a 
superabundance of this world’s goods in the hands 
of the Orcutt family, and the question whether or 
not two of their number could go away to school, 
even in the most economical fashion, was felt by 
all to be a momentous issue. Yet it was by no 
means the financial part of the problem which lent 
it its chief interest. A love of knowledge, a recog- 
nition that it was, after character, the one thing 
needful, was ingrained in the family spirit, and 
there were few things which would not have been 
cheerfully sacrificed to the getting of a thorough 
education. The temptation, to which many New 
England families of a generation ago were liable, 
of making those sacrifices largely in behalf of the 
sons, was not felt here, for the six children whose 


AN EXCITING QUESTION 3 1 

names had been written in the family Bible were 
all girls. Bertha, who was eighteen, was the 
oldest, and Sue, who had just rounded the bend of 
sweet sixteen, came next. 

There was little opportunity before supper for 
discussing the matter which engrossed all thought. 
The deacon hurried to the barn to attend to his 
belated chores, and Mrs. Orcutt busied herself in 
preparations for the evening meal. She was one 
who held with Solomon that there was a time for 
everything, and the time for talking over important 
subjects was not, in her opinion, when she was 
occupied with such pressing duties as the making 
of biscuits and the stirring of hasty pudding.” 
Her quiet admonition, presently given to the 
younger girls, There, children, you needn’t ask 
any more questions now,” was sufficient to check 
their exuberant curiosity, and Sue and Bertha 
already knew enough of the day’s results to be 
willing to wait a more convenient season for the 
final decision. 

The convenient season came when the chores were 
finished, the supper dishes washed, and the younger 
children had been sent to bed. Then, while Mrs. 
Orcutt occupied herself with the family mending, — 


32 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


she could not have listened to the most exciting 
tale with her hands in her lap, — the deacon ren- 
dered his complete report, and the plan for one 
term at Merton Academy was developed in full. 

The question of the girls’ going had really been 
settled by the extremely low price of those rooms 
at Deacon Porter’s, and it was ielt to be truly 
providential that such desirable quarters, under the 
roof of so excellent a man, should have been re- 
served for them. The furniture to make those 
rooms habitable was to be taken from the old 
farmhouse, and the articles which were needed, 
and could be spared, were decided upon with much 
deliberation. The supplies for the housekeeping 
were, of course, to be drawn largely from the 
home pantry and cellar, and other expenses were to 
be met from the small income of the farm, and the 
earnings of the girls themselves in the corset factory. 

The last item could not be calculated exactly in 
advance, and some little debate arose over the 
amount to be expected from Sue’s work in the re- 
maining days, her own glowing opinion of the speed 
which would be given to her needle by the pros- 
pect in store not being fully shared by the others. 
Bertha, in particular, was sceptical on this point. 


AN EXCITING QUESTION. 


33 


^^No, Sue/’ she said, with a shake of her head, 
‘^you’ll work slower, and sew down more tapes on 
the wrong side than ever. You’ll be dreaming over 
Merton Academy all the time until we fairly get 
there.” 

This was felt by Sue to be rather unkind, but 
she was in too happy a frame of mind to resent 
anything. ^^Oh, Bertha,” she said, falling upon her 
sister’s neck, when the conference was fairly over, 
do believe we shall be the happiest girls in the 
world. To think of being actually away at school 
for three blessed months, studying the things we 
love, with the best teachers in the country, and 
classmates who care as much for study as we do ! 
I know I shall think I’m in heaven all the time.” 

The deacon rubbed the moisture from his specta- 
cles, and smiled upon his daughters with a look of 
inexpressible satisfaction. Their pleasure was his ; 
and, for a moment, too, their dream of perfect hap- 
piness. But Mrs. Orcutt’s deep gray eyes looked 
into the future with a keener vision. 

^^You mustn’t expect too much, girls,” she said 
earnestly. ^‘It’s a great opportunity, and of course 
you’ll appreciate it, but you’ll have your trials ; 
there’ll be something besides studying to do, if 


34 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


you’re going to keep house for yourselves in any 
comfortable or suitable way; and sometimes you’ll 
grudge the time it takes, and wish you could be 
free from it all. Things won’t always go right at 
school, either. Oh, there’ll be some hard things to 
bear, you may depend on that, and you’ll know the 
difference easily enough between Merton Academy 
and heaven.” 


CHAPTER II. 


LEAVING HOME 


HE winter term at Merton Academy was to 



begin the week after Thanksgiving, and the 
time which remained before the all-important date 
was a busy one indeed in the Orcutt family. For 
a fortnight longer the girls went regularly to the 
corset factory, and if Sue did not achieve with her 
needle quite the brilliant results she had hoped, 
it should be said, in justice to her, that the record 
was an unusually good one. At home the prepara- 
tions for their winter outfit went briskly on under 
their mother’s energetic management. There was 
much to be done, but perhaps the going away 
would have lost something of its interest and im- 
portance if it had not taxed the industry of the 
family to the utmost. There was a new rag car- 
pet, which had been in making for months, to be 
finished with haste and given to the weaver ; a 
bed-comfort or two to be tied, and the last rows 


36 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


added to a braided rug of unusual dimensions. 
The little girls could help in the braiding, but 
they were made happier still by being trusted 
with some parts of the housework not usually given 
to their hands. Little Meg was allowed to stand 
on a “ cricket ” and wash the dishes, and Kit, 
aged twelve, was promoted to the dignity of mak- 
ing brown bread and johnny-cake, articles which 
formed no inconsiderable items of the family fare. 

For three days during the last week, a dress- 
maker was employed at the house, and during 
that exciting period Sue and Bertha each became 
the possessor of a brand-new dress, a brown cash- 
mere of the best quality. Garnet would perhaps 
have been more becoming to Sue’s dark hair and 
eyes, and Bertha’s delicate complexion would cer- 
tainly have been set off by a soft shade of blue, 
but the considerations in favor of getting both 
gowns alike were too obviously on the side of 
economy to be overlooked by Mrs. Orcutt, and the 
girls accepted her decision in the matter with 
cheerful acquiescence. For the rest, the arranging 
of their wardrobes was a simple matter. Some 
furbishing up of old gowns, a little turning and 
twisting, or the skilful adjusting of a bit of trim- 


LEAFING HOME. 


37 


ming to cover the piecing with which new cloth 
was added to an old garment, — these were the prin- 
cipal items required, and the stitches were mostly 
taken by Mrs. Orcutt, whose lamp burned often 
far into the night. 

No, no,” she said sometimes, when the girls 
remonstrated, or begged to be at least allowed to 
sit up and share her labors ; it won’t do for you 
to go to the Academy all tired out in advance. 
I’m used to working by lamplight, and can do 
it without a bit of your help,” to which she .usually 
added so decisive a good night ” that the girls 
stole off to bed, feeling that further appeal on 
their part would be useless. 

It was something of a trial to good Deacon Orcutt 
that his part in the work of these busy days was 
so small, but he comforted himself with the thought 
that his turn would come later, and meanwhile 
spent as much time as possible in looking over the 
stores in the cellar and selecting the choicest of 
the fruits and vegetables for his daughters’ future 
use. 

^^Of course you can buy flour and such things 
just as well at Merton as you can here,” he said 
one evening, when, for the fiftieth time, the sub- 


38 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


ject of supplies was under discussion, ^^but you 
wouldn’t find any potatoes to match my Peach- 
blows, or any squashes and pumpkins equal to 
those that grew in the old south cornfield. 
Deacon Porter said you could have a corner of his 
cellar just as well as not, and I mean to fill it 
up with some vegetables that’ll make the old 
gentleman open his eyes. If he don’t wish some 
of ’em belonged to him, when he sees ’em,” he 
added with a little chuckle, I’ll lose my guess.” 

What reason he had for supposing that his 
brother deacon would fall so easily into the sin of 
covetousness did not appear, and his wife inti- 
mated, in a rather reproving tone, that the sug- 
gestion was not altogether complimentary. 

^^Well, of course,” said the deacon apologetically, 

I don’t mean to imply that he’ll feel the way 
Ahab did about Naboth’s vineyard, or anything of 
that sort, but he can’t help seeing the difference 
between such vegetables as I raise and what he’s 
in the habit of buying at the store, and I don’t 
know as he’d be held accountable if he did feel a 
little envious,” he added firmly. Now I think of 
it, I’m a good mind to take him up a few pota- 
toes or apples, just in the way of a present. I 


LEAVING HOME. 


39 


shall have a pretty good jag of stuff for the girls, 
but I guess I can manage to tuck in a little some- 
thing extra.” 

^^It seems to me, father,” observed Sue rather 
impatiently, “that you think we’re going to have 
tremendous appetites when we get to Merton. A 
body’d think, from the amount of stuff you’re 
planning to take, that we were going to spend 
the greater part of our time in eating.” 

The deacon smiled knowingly. “ You’ll want 
more ^ stuff ’ than you think now that you will,” 
he said with emphasis. “ Young folks are always 
hollow when they’re off at school, and you know 
you won’t have your mother’s pantry to go to. 
I tell you, you’ll want a pretty good supply of 
things in the cellar, specially apples.” 

“Well, I think myself it would be a good plan 
to have lots of apples,” admitted Sue ; “ then we 
should have something to fall back upon, if we 
were too busy studying, any time, to feel like get- 
ting a meal.” 

The deacon winked sagaciously, and Bertha 
slightly nodded ; but Mrs. Orcutt dropped her sew- 
ing into her lap for a moment with an expression 
of real dismay. 


40 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


Now, girls,” she said, including them both in a 
glance of disapproval, you mustn’t think of doing 
in any such slip-shod way as that. It’ll be time 
saved in the long run for you to get every meal 
properly and take time enough to eat it. It’s ^a 
sound mind in a sound body’ that’s needed, you 
know, and you won’t have either if you neglect the 
plain rules of health.” 

It was a subject on which her views were ex- 
tremely definite, and she added earnestly, If there’s 
one thing in this world that a woman needs more 
than any other, it’s good health, and I’d never con- 
sent to your going ofi to school, in the way you’re 
going, if I didn’t suppose you’d take proper care of 
yourselves when you got there.” 

Oh, we will, mother, we will,” protested both 
the girls, and Sue added penitently: We’ll get our 
meals every time as if we expected you to sit down 
at the table with us when they’re ready.” 

I wish we’d had more practice in cooking before- 
hand,” said Bertha rather wistfully, I don’t feel 
as if I knew anything about it independently.” 

^^Well, I wish you had,” said her mother with a 
little sigh, ^^and I don’t know but I’m to blame 
that you haven’t, but I don’t see when you could 


LEAVING NOME. 


41 


have taken the time for it lately. However/’ she 
added briskly, ^^I’ll write out the receipts for the 
things you’ll mostly need to make, and if you mix 
in plenty of good sense with every one of ’em, 
there’s no danger but you’ll get along all right. 
That’s really what’s needed in cooking more than 
anything else, and I always think it’s a downright 
lack of gumption when a woman can’t get up a 
meal fit to eat. I’ve no fear but that you’ll make 
a good cook, Bertha, nor you either. Sue, if you 
only give your mind to it.” 

I’ll try my best,” said Sue humbly. Her feel- 
ings were not hurt by the doubt implied in her 
mother’s closing remark. She had in fact heard 
it too often, it being generally admitted by the fam- 
ily that her mind was of a fairly good order, but 
somewhat too frequently absent to be depended on 
with entire confidence. 

^^And you know,” said the deacon, returning to 
the pleasant contemplation of his own part in fur- 
nishing his daughters’ table, I shall be up every few 
weeks with a good load of things from home. Your 
mother’ll find time to make you up a batch of pies 
and doughnuts now and then, I guess, and I’ll see 
that you don’t run out of ham and good corned beef. 


42 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


’Tisn’t such an awful sight of work to cook ’em, and 
I guess you’ll have plenty of time for studying, and 
not starve either.” 

With such labors and plannings the days passed 
quickly, — dear days, not to be imagined by girls for 
whom fortune has smoothed the way to an educa- 
tion, and whose going away to school requires only 
an easy consent on the part of their parents and a 
few visits on their own part to shops and dress- 
makers. 

The Saturday came at last which was to see our 
heroines off. The morning was sharp and frosty, 
as befitted the next day but one after Thanksgiving, 
but the sky was cloudless ; and the girls, well 
equipped for the journey, felt no dread of the 
twenty-five miles which lay between home and the 
village of Merton. 

Perhaps it would have detracted from the enjoy- 
ment of some young ladies that the spring wagon, 
in which they were to make the trip, served as 
a moving-van as well, and conveyed the household 
goods and provisions with which they were to set 
up their miniature housekeeping. But neither Sue 
nor Bertha felt the least mortification on this score. 
The deacon himself had arranged the load, and, as 


LEAVING HOME. 


43 


he complacently said, everything was in apple pie 
order.” The plain, light furniture, the box of 
kitchen utensils, the bags of vegetables, and the 
barrel of apples were all dextrously packed and 
bound together, and the effect, if not artistic, was 
in the highest degree respectable. 

At precisely eight o’clock the girls mounted to 
the seat beside their father. They had said good by 
to their mother and sisters at the door, but the lat- 
ter climbed over the wheels and hung upon the 
sides of the wagon for another and another kiss. 
It was hard, this last moment, harder than any of 
them had foreseen. There were tears in all their 
eyes, and little Meg sobbed outright. 

There, there, children,” called Mrs. Orcutt from 
the door, “ don’t hinder the girls any longer! ” 

The children dropped suddenly from the sides of 
the wagon. The deacon gathered up the reins with 
a decided ge dap 1 ” Bertha winked hard for a 
moment, and Sue swallowed a great lump in her 
throat. Good by 1 good by ! ” they all called in 
husky chorus, and then the wagon rolled away 
with the faces of its occupants set towards Merton. 


CHAPTER III. 


AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW SCENES. 

rriHE good gray horse which the deacon drove 
that day was no loiterer, and the record she 
made was an item of the journey which he never 
failed to mention when he afterwards told the 
story. It was not yet noon when they reached the 
village of Merton, and the girls occupied themselves, 
as they drove down Pine Street, in guessing which 
of the neat frame dwellings which faced them on 
either side belonged to Deacon Porter. The ques- 
tion was, however, settled for them, before they 
had fairly decided, by the appearance of the deacon 
himself, — a tall, white-haired old gentleman, who 
suddenly opened the gate before a pleasant-looking 
house, and stood watching their approach with 
evident expectation. 

There he is now ! ’’ exclaimed Deacon Orcutt, 
and he conveyed to the gray horse a rather excited 
wish that she should quicken her pace for the few 


44 


AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW SCENES. 


45 


remaining rods. The horse responded briskly, and 
a minute later the two men were shaking hands 
over the wagon wheel with the heartiest cord- 
iality. 

^^Well, you see we’ve got here, bag and bag- 
gage,” exclaimed Deacon Orcutt, his hearty voice 
ringing out with a note of peculiar satisfaction. 
Then, turning to his daughters, he added, Deacon 
Porter, these are my girls, the ones that are going 
to live with you this winter, and I guess you’ll find 
you’ve got the right sort of roomers this time, if 
you never had any before.” 

Bertha gave her father’s sleeve an admonishing 
little twitch. A disposition to glow over his girls 
was the good man’s particular weakness, a weak- 
ness which the girls themselves sometimes found a 
little embarrassing. 

It’ll be for Deacon Porter to say what kind of 
roomers we are, after he’s tried us,” she said, blush- 
ing rosily. 

Oh, I hain’t a doubt on that pint; not a doubt,” 
said the old man gallantly. There is a saying 
about ministers’ sons and deacons’ daughters being 
nat’rally a little wild, but I never took much stock 
in it, specially the last part. The fact is,” he added. 


46 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


nodding sagaciously at Deacon Orcutt, ‘^it depends 
a good deal on what sort of a deacon he is.” 

That’s a fact,” said the other, with an expansive 
smile. It’s pretty sure that there’s some fault 
behind when the children go wrong. ^ Train ’em 
up in the way they should go, and when they’re 
old they won’t depart from it ’ — that’s what Solomon 
said, you know, and I guess he hit it about right.” 

The girls were getting a little impatient. There 
were subjects vastly more interesting to them just 
now than the training of children, or the special 
tendencies of deacons’ daughters. 

^^^We shall get hard sitting here so long,”’ 
whispered Sue in her father’s ear. 

He was not as well up in the sayings of Hans 
Andersen, as in the proverbs of Solomon, but the 
suggestion had the desired effect. Feel sort of 
stiff, do you?” he asked, bestirring himself. ^‘Well, 
I shouldn’t wonder ; twenty-five miles is a good deal 
of a ride on a frosty morning like this. I believe 
I feel a little that way myself,” and he climbed 
down from the wagon in a manner which betrayed 
that he, too, had been sitting quite long enough. 

You must come right into the sitting-room,” 
said Deacon Porter, eagerly leading the way as 


AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW SCENES. 


47 


they moved towards the house together. Mother’s 
got a good fire in there, ready for you. She said 
you’d be chilled through, by the time you got here.” 

^‘Oh, I don’t feel cold,” protested Sue; ^^all I want 
is to move about a little.” 

She wanted to go instantly to those upper rooms, 
and would have done so in spite of the deacon’s 
invitation had it not been for the sweet-faced, 
motherly woman who met them at the door. 

^^I’m real glad you’ve come,” she said, giving 
each of the girls a hand. I told father you’d 
be along to-day, though I didn’t expect you quite 
as early as this. Now don’t go to your rooms 
quite yet,” she added earnestly, reading Sue’s wish 
in her restless glance; you’ll like these rooms all 
the better if you don’t see them till you’re nice and 
warm.” 

There was a touch of philosophy in this which 
appealed even to Sue, and the courtesy of the occa- 
sion appealed still more strongly to Bertha. They 
sat down by the cozy fire, and even sipped a little 
of the tea which Mrs. Porter insisted on drawing 
for them; but it was impossible to endure a delay 
of more than a few moments, and leaving their 
father to thaw himself out at his leisure, they ex- 


48 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


cased themselves and ran, with hearts beating 
ridiculously fast, up the stairs which Mrs. Porter 
pointed out as leading to their own apartments. 

The plain, unvarnished picture which the deacon 
had drawn of them in advance had left no pos- 
sible room for disappointment. Indeed, the girls 
both felt, as they stepped into the low, broad room 
which was to be kitchen and sitting-room in one, 
that he had somehow not done it justice. He 
had not told how the warm, south sunlight bright- 
ened the walls, nor mentioned that the window 
w^hich let in the generous flood was deep and 
wide, reaching almost to the floor, with a sill broad 
enough to furnish a comfortable seat to the looker- 
out. 

Sue stepped quickly towards it, shrinking a little 
at the remembrance of the woodshed,” but forgot 
it the next instant in the view that lay beyond. 

The house was almost on the edge of the town, 
and sharply behind it rose a hill crowned with 
dark green pines. There was a picturesque group 
of rocks on the nearer side, and among them, lean- 
ing forward a little, with something alert and eager 
in its pose, stood a slender white-limbed birch. It 
seemed almost to be looking in at the sunny win- 


AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW SCENES. 


A9 


dow, and the heart of the impulsive, imaginative 
girl, thrilling with the happiness of the moment, 
went out to it with a swift understanding. It was 
a sentinel, she said to herself, a kindly sentinel, 
keeping watch for all its dark-robed fellows, over 
the occupants of that room, and welcoming them 
now with the quiver of its delicate branches. How 
many glad newcomers it must have welcomed to 
that room before ! Did it know, she wondered, 
what the coming meant to her? It should see, 
ah, it should see, such faithful work, such happy 
days, as never had been known between these 
walls before ! 

She started suddenly at the touch of her sister s 
hand on her arm. Bertha, too, was standing by 
the window, taking the measure with her careful, 
practical eye, for the muslin curtains which were 
to be drawn across the lower sash. 

That was a busy afternoon for the girls and their 
father. The deacon had no intention of starting 
for home till he had seen them, as he said, fairly 
settled, and the girls themselves were eager to send 
a report to their mother of housekeeping well begun. 
By sunset the new rag carpet was down, every arti- 
cle of furniture was in its place, the curtains were 


50 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


at the window, and the cellar and pantry had each 
been furnished with its appropriate store. 

The filling of the wood-box (which, by the way, 
was no ordinary wood-box, but a knowing affair, 
upholstered in creton with a cushion on the top) 
was positively the last service which the deacon 
could render his daughters, and he heaved a deep 
sigh as he threw down the final armful. I wish 
I could fill it for you to-morrow, girls,’' he said; 

I shall think of you when I’m bringing in the 
wood for your mother.” 

‘^Well, if you do,” said Sue, her voice choking 
a little, please remember that we girls have good 
strong arms and are perfectly able to do it for 
ourselves.” 

She made a practical demonstration of the fact 
by giving him, as she spoke, a ferocious hug ; then 
she added decidedly, You’ve done everything in 
the world to make us comfortable, father, and 
now if we can’t get along by ourselves, we’re poor 
sticks and don’t deserve a bit of sympathy.” 

don’t know but that’s about so,” said the 
deacon frankly; ^^but you’re not poor sticks, and 
you will get along in tip-top fashion.” 

Well, I must be getting off ; I guess Penny ” 


AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW SCENES. 


5 ^ 


— he referred to the pretty gray horse, whose 
name was Penelope — is rested by this time, and 
we must be taking the road if we mean to get 
home by moonlight. She won’t make the trip quite 
as quick as she did this morning.” 

“ We’ll have supper for you in ten minutes, 
father,” said Bertha. She opened the door of the 
oven as she spoke and disclosed a row of great, 
mealy-looking potatoes growing beautifully brown, 
then added, with quite the air of an old house- 
keeper, You must have something hot before you 
start, you know.” 

The deacon gave an approving chuckle. That’s 
the way I knew you’d do things,” he said, and he 
made a note of the incident to report to Mrs. Or- 
cutt on his return. 

Three-quarters of an hour later he was gone, 
and the girls were left in their place alone. The 
supper dishes had been despatched quickly, and the 
work of the day was fairly done. 

Don’t let’s light the lamp quite yet,” said Sue, 
drawing her chair before the stove, and opening 
the front doors, which transformed it from a pro- 
saic instrument for cooking into a miniature fire- 
place. Let’s sit here in the dusk awhile and try 


5 ‘^ 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


to realize that we’ve actually gone away to school. 
Oh Bertha, doesn’t it seem too good to be true ? ” 
Yes, it does,” said Bertha solemnly; ^^and yet,” 
she added, somehow it doesn’t seem half as queer 
to be here as I thought it would.” 

She did not insist on lighting the lamp, but she 
had her own scheme for utilizing the twilight, and 
she said, a minute later, as she placed her chair 
closer to her sister’s, Sue, don’t you think ’twould 
be a good plan to divide off the work to-night, 
and decide just what part each of us shall do ? 
That would be the systematic way, and would save 
all confusion.” 

It was possible that the details of housework 
would not, after all, prove very fascinating to Sue. 

Oh,” she said, with a little sigh, ‘^must we do 
that right now?” 

She would probably have yielded to her sister’s 
proposal, however, had there not come at that mo- 
ment a sound of steps on the stairs. The stairs 
(it should perhaps be mentioned), with a narrow 
entry, lay between the two rooms. Some one was 
evidently coming up to their quarters, and a mo- 
ment later there was a brisk knock at the door. 

The girls had not yet learned to answer a caller 


AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW SCENES. 


53 


with a careless ^^come in,’’ and Bertha opened the 
door at once to a petite young woman, with a work- 
bag on her arm, who smiled at them from across 
the threshold with an air of the utmost friend- 
liness. 

It must be the little dressmaker,” thought Sue, 
with a quick remembrance of her father’s first 
visit; and the newcomer confirmed the impression, 
by introducing herself as such, without delay. 

‘^1 don’t suppose you were expecting a caller,” 
she said in a peculiarly pleasant voice, ^^but I’m 
Mollie Graham, the dressmaker. I live here, you 
know, — that is, I spend my nights here, — and 
my bedroom is right next to yours, so I thought 
I wouldn’t stand on ceremony about getting 
acquainted. May I come in a few minutes?” 

The cordiality with which both girls assured her 
of the pleasure it would give them, left no doubt 
of their willingness to make her acquaintance, and 
she took the low chair which Bertha placed beside 
the other two, with the manner of one who already 
felt herself quite at home. 

No, don’t light the lamp,” she said, as Bertha 
turned a second time to perform that service; ^‘I 
like to sit in the dark. It’s the only time when 


.54 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


I feel as if I really had a right to be idle. Besides, 
it’s pleasant when one has a cozy fire like 
this.” 

Sue felt that there was at least one point in 
common between herself and the little dressmaker. 
“ That’s what I think,” she said quickly. I was 
just telling Bertha, before you came in, that there 
was no need of a lamp.” 

Not a bit,” said the other, leaning comfortably 
back in her chair. There’s plenty of light to 
make out each other’s faces by, and that’s all 
that’s needed. I’m sure you can see that I’m a 
homely little old maid, and I can tell plainly 
enough that you’re a pair of awfully nice young 
girls, younger than I was a dozen years ago. I’m 
not absolutely sure which is the older, but youre 
the head of the house,” she added with a merry 
nod at Bertha. 

Sue laughed. That’s right,” she said; Bertha’s 
the unmistakable head, and I’m only Sue, but I 
don’t see how you found it out so soon.” 

“My dear,” said the little dressmaker, — she had 
the easiest, most friendly manner imaginable, — 
“ when you’ve been about among people, all sorts 
and conditions of ’em, as I have for more than 


AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW SCENES. 


55 


thirty years, you can tell something about ’em too, 
even in the dark.” 

She spent a minute sending a quick, bright glance 
about the room, then exclaimed with a note of genu- 
ine admiration in her voice, Well, I don’t see but 
you look as thoroughly settled as if you’d been liv- 
ing here for a month; and how nice you are, with 
your pretty new carpet, your braided rugs, and all 
the other fixings ! I’ve been in and out of this 
room a good deal in the course of my life, but I 
must say I never saw it look as nice as this before, 
never r 

It would have been impossible for the girls to 
take offence at the frank interest with which she 
surveyed their small dominion. The perfect friend- 
liness beneath was too apparent. Besides, they 
had all the pride of young housekeepers in their 
first belongings, and were not unwilling to have a 
visitor admire. 

I shall tell the folks at home what you said, 
when I write,” said Bertha; and then she posi- 
tively could not refrain from lighting the lamp, 
and giving their caller a peep at the bedroom, 
with the pretty home-made dresser draped in 
chintz, the half-moon” table, and the sleepy 


56 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


hollow’' chair, all of which Miss Graham admired 
with the knowing admiration of one who had no 
small amount of Yankee ingenuity herself. 

When they had returned to the parlor (as Miss 
Graham declared the kitchen should be called, at 
least in the evening). Sue, who was really getting 
a little tired of housewifery, suddenly changed the 
subject. 

Have you known many of the girls who’ve 
roomed here before ? ” she asked. 

Well, I guess I’ve known most of them for 
the last ten years,” replied Miss Graham. “I’ve 
had a pretty good chance, going in and out as I 
do. Besides, the girls are generally homesick for 
the first few weeks, and I’ve considered it part of 
my mission in life to cheer them up a little.” 

“I don’t see why they should be homesick,” 
said Bertha gravely. 

“Don’t you?” said Miss Graham, with a little 
smile. “ Perhaps you’ll find out one of these days ; 
girls at school generally do.” 

“Not when they’ve wanted to go as much as 
we have, I hope,” said Sue. 

“ Well, perhaps not,” said the little dressmaker; 
“but homesickness is a queer sort of distemper, 


AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW SCENES. 


57 


and it's catching among girls at school. You 
can’t tell when it’s coming, nor who’ll come down 
with it next. I remember what a siege one girl 
had with it here. She couldn’t eat, and she 
wouldn’t study, and she was in doleful dumps 
over everything. Dear me, I used to think Giant 
Despair had gotten hold of this room for his par- 
ticular dungeon, but I used to come in as often 
as I could and try to stand between the poor girl 
and destruction.” 

‘‘I think I should have been inclined to let the 
old giant cudgel her all he had a mind to, if she 
couldn’t bestir herself a little to get out of his 
way,” said Sue scornfully. 

Miss Graham’s eyes twinkled. “Ah, my dear 
young lady,” she said, “just wait till you’ve fallen 
into his clutches yourself some day. He’s a crafty 
old fellow. Giant Despair, and most of us are 
doomed to have a bout with him sooner or later. 
However, I really don’t believe you girls are the 
homesick kind, and if it touches you at all, prob- 
ably it won’t strike in.” 

Perhaps she found the atmosphere of the room 
unusually agreeable, for she sat there more than 
an hour, telling stories and answering questions 


58 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


about the Academy; while the girls, for their part, 
disclosed their own plans and longings, and gave 
more than one unconscious glimpse of the dear, 
self-sacrificing home they had left behind. 

She started suddenly when the clock on the 
wall struck eight. ^‘Dear me!” she said, I didn’t 
mean to stay so long. Girls who have ridden 
twenty-five miles, and set up housekeeping all in 
one day, must be tired, I should think. I shall 
look in on you now and then, and if” — she hesi- 
tated a moment and sent a laughing glance towards 
Sue — ^^if you should get blue, or anything, just 
let me know.” 

^^No, I shall keep it to myself,” said Sue, and 
then she asked suddenly, Don’t you ever get blue 
or anything yourself ? ” 

The little dressmaker settled back in her chair 
for a moment longer, and let her hands drop into 
her lap. Oh, my dear young creature,” she said, 
if you knew how many funny, fussy, fidgety 
women there are in this world, and how hard it 
is to work for some of them, you wouldn’t ask a 
dressmaker that question. If there’s one thing in 
particular that I thank the Lord for it’s Saturday 
night. I should have died a thousand deaths before 


AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW SCENES. 


59 


this if it hadn’t come just in time to save me from 
being all fagged out.” 

“Well,” said Sue impulsively, “^Turn about is 
fair play,’ and if you’ve had the business of cheer- 
ing up the girls in this room all these years, I 
think there ought to be a change. The next time 
you feel tired and sort of down-hearted, just come 
in here and see what we girls can do in the way 
of making things jolly.” 

“ Bless you ! ” said Miss Graham, with an odd 
little quaver in her voice, and then she rose with 
the air of one who felt that it was positively time 
to be gone. “ Good night,” she said at the door ; 
“ don’t forget that my room is right next to 
yours.” 

“ Good night,” responded the girls in concert. 

“I know I shall like her,” said Bertha, when 
the door had closed. 

“ I’m in love with her already,” said Sue ; and 
then she added with a sigh of satisfaction, “Oh, 
Bertha, doesn’t it seem as if things had really 
begun ? ” 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF MERTON ACADEMY. 

HE atmosphere of Deacon Porter’s house was 



peaceful at all times, and the coming of the 
Sabbath scarcely increased its quiet. Perhaps, in- 
deed, the presence of Mary Graham with her quick 
step and occasional ripple of laughter more than 
counterbalanced the added gravity of the good 
deacon and his wife. The latter made an early call 
at the girls’ door and informed them of the hour 
for church service, adding that they would be more 
than welcome to occupy seats in the family pew. 

‘^We want you to feel that you belong to the 
family, you know,” she said with one of her moth- 
erly smiles. Father always hires a whole pew 
for the sake of the young folks that room here, 

' and he’ll be glad to introduce you to the minister 
and the other deacons after meeting.” 

Possibly the girls would have been willing to dis- 
pense with this last attention, but they gratefully 


6o 




A CONSIDERABLE CONGREGATION HAD GATHERED IN THEJ’AUDIENCE 
ROOM OF THE SQUARE, OLD-FASHIONED CHURCH.” 


THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF MERTON ACADEMY. 6 1 


accepted the offered seats and set off with the family, 
promptly, at the ringing of the first bell. 

Could we go by the Academy on the way ? ” 
whispered Sue to the little dressmaker as they 
passed out at the gate. It seems as if I couldn’t 
wait till to-morrow to see it.” 

Miss Graham smiled. Yes, we could,” she said ; 
‘^it would be only three or four blocks out of our 
way.” 

But the last clause had settled it. That detour 
of three or four blocks would have been ^^a walk 
for pleasure, pure, unmistakable pleasure,” as the 
girls said afterwards to each other, and no member 
of the Orcutt family had ever dissipated in that 
way on the Sabbath. 

A considerable congregation had gathered in the 
audience room of the square, .old-fashioned church 
when they entered, and the girls were not wrong 
in guessing that most of the young people whom 
they saw scattered about the room, were, like them- 
selves, about to become students at the Academy. 
The minister had evidently counted on having a 
number of them in his audience, and his somewhat 
remarkable discourse was addressed especially to 
them. He had chosen as his text, “And thou, 


62 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS, 


Capernaum, which are exalted unto Heaven, it 
shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in 
the day of judgment than for thee/’ But the 
Capernaum of his thoughts was by no means the 
ancient town on the Sea of Galilee. It was, instead, 
the village of Merton, and the young people who 
enjoyed the privileges of its ancient and honorable 
Academy were the favored ones who might well 
expect to reap loss and sorrow if they failed to 
improve their opportunities. 

A couple of jovial-looking boys, in the rear of 
the church, who would doubtless have done well to 
lay the discourse to heart, laughed and whispered 
behind a hymn book as the preacher poured forth 
the words of counsel and warning ; but the two girls 
who sat in Deacon Porter’s pew listened with bated 
breath. It seemed to them both that the sermon 
must have been designed especially for them. 

They said as much to Miss Graham on the way 
home, but the little dressmaker failed to see the 
discourse in the light of a special providence for 
her young friends. 

You didn’t need it a speck,” she said decidedly. 

For my part, I’ve noticed that the ones who do 
need that sort of a sermon never take it to them- 


THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF MERTON ACADEMY. 6 ^ 


selves at all, and I should think ministers would 
know it. If I’d been preaching to you two,” she 
added with a little smile, I’d have taken a good 
round promise instead of a threatening, anyhow.” 

It always seemed to Sue and Bertha as if that 
particular Sunday had more hours in it than any 
other that they ever knew, but it passed at last, 
and the longed-for Monday actually arrived. The 
regular work of the term at Merton Academy did 
not begin till the following day, but it was ex- 
pected that students would report to the principal 
to have their studies arranged and all preliminary 
matters despatched as far as possible. Ten o’clock 
was the hour set for meeting Mr. Hermon, and 
promptly at the moment the girls marched up the 
old stone steps leading to the Academy. 

It stood a little higher than the street, from 
which it was shut off by a thick, evergreen hedge, 
on a wide lawn of its own, dotted with splendid 
old trees. The building itself was a large white 
frame, with a square dignified centre fronted by 
a tall portico, and benevolent-looking wings ex- 
tending broadly on either side. For a temple of 
learning it was really a quite homelike and cheer- 
ful-looking place, but the girls approached it with 


64 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


a feeling akin to awe, and their hearts beat 
ridiculously fast as they stepped across the thresh- 
old. The stream of students which they had 
expected to see pouring in had not yet begun. 
Apparently they were themselves the first comers. 

A young fellow in the hall, who might be a 
student, and was evidently acting as janitor, 
answered the question as to where they should 
find the principal’s office, and a moment later they 
found themselves in the presence of the great man 
himself. 

He was seated at his desk, and so engrossed 
in a book which lay open before him, that for a 
moment he did not observe them, and it was 
well for Sue at least that she had that moment 
in which to recover from her surprise, almost 
dismay, at his appearance. If she had ever read 
Boswell’s life' of Samuel Johnson, she would have 
known that it was possible for a man of the 
highest scholarship, and most distinguished char- 
acter, to present an unpleasing, and even a gro- 
tesque appearance ; but she had yet to make the 
acquaintance of that delightful biography, and 
Mr. Theophilus Hermon was so totally different 
from the elegant, dignified gentleman whom she 


THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF MERTON ACADEMY. 65 

had pictured to herself as the principal of Merton 
Academy, that she caught her breath with a quick, 
involuntary gasp. 

He was large and heavy. The hero of Boswell 
could hardly have exceeded him in avoirdupois, 
and his face, though not marked like that of the 
former, with the ravages of disease, was so fur- 
rowed with the lines of care and thought, and so 
strikingly, so extraordinarily homely, as to seem at 
first glance almost repulsive. His dress was care- 
less even to the point of disorder. His loose, ill- 
fitting coat had shoved itself into great wrinkles 
across his stooping shoulders, and the band of his 
cravat was conspicuously on the edge of his collar. 
The hand which lay on the desk was framed in a 
considerable expanse of white, well-polished cuff, 
but the one which hung at his side gave no sign 
of having such an adjunct at all. 

All these things Sue noted, in that first minute, 
while she stood waiting before the desk. Possibly 
he felt the influence of her startled, wondering 
eyes. He looked up suddenly, and the expression 
which she had inwardly pronounced dull became 
alert, and almost painfully keen. 

Ah, young ladies, you are the first comers,” he 


66 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


said. Then, motioning them to seats, he added, 
I presume you wish to enter the Academy.” 

His voice, which was peculiarly deep, had little 
animation. He spoke like one engaged simply in 
a routine of ordinary work. 

Yes, sir,” said Bertha, and she added, rather 
nervously, ^^We are Deacon Orcutt’s daughters from 
Westville. He had a talk with you a few weeks 
ago about our coming.” 

Apparently, the interview was not very fresh in 
Mr. Hermon’s memory. He knit his forehead for 
a moment as if trying to recall it, and Sue said 
to herself, with a little inward fierceness, Prob- 
ably he forgot all about us because we’re only girls.” 

Well, I’m glad you’ve come,” he said after a 
moment ; and then he inquired what arrangements 
they had made for a boarding-place, and gave a 
short, quick nod, which Bertha at least interpreted 
as one of approbation, when he learned that they 
were to board themselves at Deacon Porter’s. 

And now,” he said, after noting their names in 
the book on his desk, ^Hhe important thing is to 
arrange your studies. Have you any idea what 
you want to take ? ” 

The form of the question somehow irritated Sue. 


THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF MERTON ACADEMY. 67 

Had she any idea ” ? As if it had not been the 
theme of her meditation by day and by night ! 

Oh, we know exactly,” she said eagerly; 
want to study Latin, and history and literature, 
and — ” 

Three studies are enough,” interrupted the prin- 
cipal rather sternly. No ordinary scholar can do 
justice to more than that number, and I should 
advise that one, at least, be in the line of science or 
mathematics. Chemistry, now,” he continued, his 
manner warming a little, ‘‘ that’s a very important 
study, and I intend to make a specialty of it this 
winter. We have the best laboratory in the State, 
outside of the colleges, and an old graduate has 
just presented us with some new and remarkably 
fine apparatus.” He seized a pencil, and added, as 
if the matter were quite decided, I think I had 
better put both of you down for chemistry.” 

But we don’t want to take chemistry ! ” gasped 
Sue, beginning to feel positively frightened. 

Mr. Hermon bent his eyes upon her with a 
sudden frown. Young lady,” he said severely, 
trust you will learn to be more discriminating 
in your use of words before you have been long 
at Merton Academy. You do ‘^want’ to take it! 


68 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


Every young person wants to take it. A good 
knowledge of chemistry is useful in every employ- 
ment of life. You simply don’t wish to take it.” 

He drew up his heavy under jaw with a pecul- 
iar snap as he said the last words, then, after a 
moment’s pause, added solemnly, yet evidently not 
speaking to the little audience before him : 

what we wish, but what we want, 

Oh, let thy grace supply!’’ 

Sue was quite overpowered. A nice use of 
words was a point on which she had always rather 
prided herself, but the principal of Merton Acad- 
emy had apparently caught her in an error, and 
the quotation, with which he had clinched his 
criticism, was; to say the least, decidedly in point. 
She remembered indistinctly that she had seen it 
somewhere in the hymn book. 

think we had better take chemistry,” said 
Bertha in a low voice, and Sue ventured no fur- 
ther objection. She looked on, in a dazed sort of 
way, while Mr. Hermon booked them both as 
members in the class in chemistry. 

She recovered herself, however, a minute later, 
when he turned towards her with a brisk, “ And 


THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF MERTON ACADEMY, 69 

now about the other studies. I believe you men- 
tioned Latin.” 

“Yes, sir,” she said promptly, “I want to study 
Latin — that is” (she caught herself hastily), “I 
wish to study it more than anything else.” 

Mr. Hermon smiled for the first time, and the 
effect on his massive face was decidedly illuminat- 
ing. “Well, I hope we shall be able to accommo- 
date you,” he said. “ Let me see, beside the 
classes in the reader we shall probably have only 
two this term, one in Cicero and one in Virgil.” 

Sue caught her breath. She knew perfectly 
that either of the latter classes was far beyond 
the point to which her own study had taken her, 
but she had finished the reader, and the idea of 
going over any part of the ground which she had 
already passed was intolerable. She hesitated a 
moment, then said quickly, “ If you please, I should 
like to be in the Cicero class.” 

“ I suppose you have read a sufficient amount 
of Caesar, or Sallust?” said Mr. Hermon. 

The color flew from Sue’s cheeks, and her heart 
seemed almost to stop beating. But fortune, who 
is said to favor the bold, certainly came to aid her 
at that moment. Before she could command her 


70 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


voice to tell him that she had never read a line 
of either, the door was flung open, and a rather 
handsome, merry-looking boy of about her own 
age burst into the room, at the sight of whom 
Mr. Hermon seemed suddenly to become quite 
oblivious of herself and Bertha. 

The newcomer was evidently not a new scholar 
at the Academy, and if he had ever entertained a 
feeling of awe for its distinguished principal, it was 
clear that he had quite outgrown it. His greeting 
to a comrade could not have been more uncon- 
strained, and the manner in which Mr. Hermon 
returned it was fairly affectionate in its warmth 
and cordiality. 

^•Well, Dick,’' he said, after a vigorous hand- 
shaking, “ you’re back in season for once ; it’s a 
good sign, sir, a good sign, and I’m glad to 
see it.” 

“ Why, I fairly tore myself away to get here,” 
said the boy. My sister had an awfully jolly 
scheme on foot for to-night, but I told her she 
must count me out. Merton Academy expected 
every man to do his duty, and I proposed to be 
on deck when the firing began ! ” 

Excellent, Dick, excellent!” said the principal. 


THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF MERTON ACADEMY. 7 1 

smiling, and then he added earnestly, really 
hope you've come to study, this term, my boy.” 

Can you imagine my coming for anything else, 
sir?” said the youth, throwing an accent of wounded 
innocence into his voice. 

The smile on the principal's face broadened. 
^^Ah, Dick,” he said, with a shake of his head, 
you're a sad joker.” Then, in a tone which had 
a touch of real tenderness in it, he added, ^^But 
there's a certain good-nature about you, Dick, and 
Til never believe that you’d let me come to such 
grief in my old age as to fail in fitting the son of 
the best friend I ever had for the old college. 
That would go hard with me, Dick, and I don't 
dare to think what 'twould be to him. He was 
the finest scholar in our class — ” 

After yourself, sir,” interrupted the boy gal- 
lantly. I've heard my father say a hundred 
times that you stood up above the rest of them 
like Ajax among the Greeks; that you were the 
Hector of the class, in fact — ” 

That'll do, Dick ! that'll do ! ” said Mr. Her- 
mon, throwing back his head with a smile that 
was broader than before. see you remember 

enough of your Greek to turn a compliment. But 


72 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


your father is too modest by half. It’s a trait of 
his which you didn’t inherit, my dear boy ; that, 
nor his extraordinary capacity for hard work. If 
you only had ! ” 

‘^Well, I’m going to buckle right down to busi- 
ness, this term,” said the boy gayly; ^^see if I 
don’t.” Then, as if fearing that the occasion might 
be utilized for a little further admonition, he added 
hastily, You must excuse me, Mr. Hermon, for 
interrupting you. I ought not to have burst in 
this way, but I felt as if I couldn’t wait to see 
you. I just came in on the train, and I really 
didn’t expect to find anybody here quite so early.” 

He backed himself towards the door as he spoke, 
and the apologetic little bow, with which he dis- 
appeared the next instant, was evidently meant for 
the girls as well as Mr. Hermon. 

Sue had had time now to collect her thoughts, 
and summon up her courage. She determined to 
make a full statement of the amount of Latin she 
had studied, and follow it with a desperate appeal 
for the privilege of entering the Cicero class. To 
her surprise, however, she was spared the effort. 
Mr. Hermon had apparently forgotten the question 
with which the conversation had been left. 


THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF MERTON ACADEMY, 73 


^^Let me see/’ he said, turning to her, ^^we had 
settled on the chemistry, and as for the Latin, I 
believe you said you were ready for Cicero.” 

Sue was so totally unprepared for the turn the 
question had taken that, for a moment, she really 
could not speak, and in the next, Mr. Hermon was 
saying decisively, Very well; we read the orations 
this term, and shall begin with the poet Archias.” 

There was a moment in which her conscience 
whispered that she ought to speak out, and tell 
him how the case really stood ; that it would be 
wiser and safer. But it passed, and almost before 
she knew it, Mr. Hermon was making arrangements 
for the other studies with a briskness which seemed 
to leave no space for turning back. Bertha, who 
was fond of mathematics, was assured of the oppor- 
tunity for entering a class in advanced algebra, 
and the study of English literature was readily 
permitted to both. By this time, several other 
students had entered the room, and the girls, feel- 
ing that their business with the principal was 
ended, yielded their places and withdrew. 


CHAPTER V. 


THE BEGINNING OF A STRUGGLE. 

"rTTHEN they were fairly outside the door Sue 
’ ^ gave Bertha’s arm a nervous little clutch. 

Bertha,” she whispered, was it wicked for me 
to let him think I was ready for Cicero ? I didn’t 
say so. I had made up my mind to tell him the 
exact truth, but he didn’t give me a chance.” 

Bertha looked rather troubled. Her ideas of 
truth-telling were not of an elastic sort. I don’t 
know. Sue,” she said, hesitating a little; wish 
he hadn’t put it just the way he did. It made it 
seem a little as if you were deceiving him.” 

But it wasn’t my fault the way he put it,” pro- 
tested Sue, roused now to her own defence. I 
didn’t say anything of the kind, and I don’t see 
as I was bound to correct his mistakes. It would 
have been unbearable,” she added piteously, to 
have had to go over the ground I’ve already studied, 
when we can only be here one term.” 

74 


THE BEGINNING OF A STRUGGLE. 


75 


know it/’ said Bertha, ‘^but perhaps, if you 
had told him just how it was, he would have made 
another class especially for you.” 

Oh, do you suppose he would ? ” cried Sue, with 
something like remorse in her voice, and , then she 
added, But I don’t believe it, and any way 
it’s a great deal nicer to be in a class with 
others.” 

They had passed out of the building now, but at 
the steps which led down to the street they lin- 
gered a little, to take a more deliberate view of 
the Academy than they had ventured to give it 
on entering. Suddenly the word Library” over a 
door in one of the long projecting wings caught 
Sue’s eye, and she made an involuntary movement 
of return. 

Oh Bertha,” she exclaimed, ^Oet’s go back and 
take a look at the library ! I believe the door’s 
ajar this minute, and I should so like to see how 
many books there are.” 

Perhaps Bertha would rather have deferred the 
visit till another time. The purchase of the new 
school books was just now the matter nearest her 
heart, but she turned back with her sister, and 
together, a minute later, they entered the room 


76 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


which had been set apart for the library of Mer- 
ton Academy. 

They did not know then — how should they? — 
that this library, originally the gift of Mr. Hermon, 
and to whose increase a large part of his salary 
had been devoted for many years, was really a 
most notable collection, scarcely to be matched out- 
side of the great cities, but they thought of the 
fifty odd volumes in the old red bookcase at home, 
and the rows upon rows of books which suddenly 
met their eyes, lining the walls from floor to ceil- 
ing, amazed and overwhelmed them. There was 
no need for them to read the placard on the wall, 
admonishing that all conversations must be held 
in whispers; they would as soon have thought of 
talking out loud in church. 

Oh Bertha,” Sue murmured at last, with the 
tears rushing into her eyes, ^^what must it be to 
have whole hours to one’s self in a place like 
this ? ” 

She wandered breathlessly about among the books, 
the color coming and going in her face, her eyes 
sparkling now and then at the sight of some familiar 
title, but more often grave with wonder over the 
many, many that were strange. She passed her 


THE BEGINNING OF A STRUGGLE. 


77 


hand caressingly over the backs of the closely set 
volumes, and if she had been alone would have 
taken some of them in her arms and laid her cheek 
against their covers. It was an epoch in her life, 
an hour never to be forgotten, this first coming 
into relation with a really noble library. 

It was Bertha of course who presently remem- 
bered that they could not dwell there always. 
^^We’d better come away,” she whispered; ^Hhere 
are the school books to be bought, you know, and 
other things to be attended to.” 

Sue drew a long, deep breath, sent a last, devour- 
ing look about the room, and then resolutely turned 
her back. There undoubtedly loere duties waiting 
outside, and the sooner they were disposed of, the 
sooner one could return. 

By this time quite a number of students had 
gathered about the main entrance to the Academy, 
and the girls, glancing at them furtively as they 
passed, fancied they could tell by the timid, anxious 
expression on some faces, who were newcomers like 
themselves. 

I wonder if we looked half-scared, too, when 
we went in,” said Bertha, as they passed down again 
to the street. 


78 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


I think I must have looked three-quarters so, 
when Mr. Hermon asked me about the Latin,” 
said Sue. Her spirits had revived wonderfully 
during those few minutes in the library, and she 
added in a tone of positive glee, Wasn’t it a 
special providence though, that boy coming in as he 
did ? Another minute and I should have been lost. 
He was an angel in disguise and nothing short of it.” 

Bertha was scarcely prepared for this sudden 
change in her sister’s mental attitude, from that 
of a rather conscience-smitten young person to one 
who felt herself the object of Heaven’s special 
favor; but she wisely forebore to act the part of 
monitor. She herself had not been very favorably 
impressed with the boy. 

don’t believe he’s much of a scholar, from 
what Mr. Hermon said,” she remarked soberly, 
“and I must say he struck me as rather trifling.” 

“ Well, he did me a good turn, I’m sure of that,” 
said Sue ; and then she added, shaking her fist 
under the cape of her cloak, “ I tell you one thing, 
Bertha, Mr. Hermon shall never know but that I’ve 
studied as much Latin as the rest of the class. I’ll 
read that Cicero as well as the best of them. You 
see if I don’t ! ” 


THE BEGINNING OF A STRUGGLE. 


79 


The necessary text-books were readily found at 
the main bookstore of the village, and it was well 
for the girls’ slender purse that two of them could 
be used in common. Sue grumbled a little at the 
dollar and a half which was spent for the chemistry, 
but the possession of a brand-new Cicero, and a 
second-hand Lexicon not much the worse for wear, 
which she had luckily found, would have reconciled 
her to almost anything. She hugged them close as 
she hurried back to the rooms, and could scarcely 
wait for lunch to be over before beginning on the 
poet Archias. 

And now came the tug of war. Sue had known 
perfectly well that hard work, and plenty of it, was 
before her when she begged the privilege of enter- 
ing a class so far beyond the point to which her own 
study had taken her ; but she had not realized, she 
could not realize in her ignorant courage, what it 
would actually mean for one whose study of Latin 
had been, for the most part, without a teacher, and 
whose extent of progress had only been the comple- 
tion of Andrews’ Latin Reader, to plunge at once 
into the most ornate of the orations of the great 
Roman. In vain she brought her utmost energy 
to the work. In vain she supplemented her small 


8o 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


stock of knowledge with a larger store of ingenuity, 
and a patience which seemed inexhaustible. Both 
thought and construction, in that first bewildering 
passage, seemed utterly to elude her. 

It was certainly fortunate for her that in the 
division of labor which, thanks to Bertha’s per- 
sistence, had been effected, the latter acted as cook 
for the first week. They would surely have been 
obliged to eat a cold dinner that day had the 
preparing of the meal devolved on Sue. Hour 
after hour she sat with her books by the window, 
and when the afternoon light was fairly fading 
she was poring over them still, wrapped in utter 
oblivion of everything else. When at last Bertha, 
who had repeatedly called her name without get- 
ting any response, laid both her hands across the 
open page of her Cicero, and begged to know how 
she was succeeding, she looked up with an expres- 
sion bordering on desperation. 

^^How am I succeeding?” she repeated. Why, 
I’m not succeeding at all ! I haven’t read ten 
lines of it. I haven’t gotten hold of anything 
clearly except this, ^ If there is anything of abil- 
ity in me, oh Romans, and I know how little it 


THE BEGINNING OF A STRUGGLE. 


8l 


She laughed almost hysterically, and added, 
^^That hits my own case exactly, and I’m sure it 
must be right, only I’m beginning to think I 
haven’t any ability at all, that I’m an idiot, a 
downright idiot, and have come to Merton Acad- 
emy for the express purpose of finding it out.” 

The look in her eyes was so tragic, and her tone 
so expressive of the intense strain under which she 
was working, that Bertha was really alarmed. 

Oh Sue,” she cried, don’t try to take Cicero ! 
I knew it was too hard, all the time. You’re not 
ready for it — not half ready. Nobody could read it 
with so little preparation as you’ve had, and it’s use- 
less to try.” She hesitated a moment, and added. 
Of course we’ve bought the book, but it’s perfectly 
new, and I’m sure they’d take it back again.” 

For answer Sue sprang suddenly to her feet. 
Writing-materials were on the table within reach 
of her hand, and without a word she plunged a 
pen into a bottle of ink. 

Bertha felt that a crisis was at hand, and held 
her breath, while her sister turned to the fly-leaf 
of the book and wrote in bold, black letters across 
the whiteness of the page, Susan Elizabeth Orcutt, 
Merton Academy, December 1st, 1870.” 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


82 . 


“ There ! ” she cried, turning to her sister, with 
the look Cortez might have had when he ordered 
the burning of his ships, do you think they’ll 
take it back now f I tell you, Bertha Orcutt, I’ve 
made up my mind to be in that Cicero class. It’s 
between me and this lesson, and if I’m beaten I’ll 
go back to Westville to-morrow, and ask for my 
old place in the corset factory.” 

Bertha could not speak, but the pride and affec- 
tion which flashed in her eyes at that moment 
were more than Sue could bear. She turned her 
back suddenly, and for a few minutes stood with 
her face to the window, looking silently out. 

Through the soft, gathering shadows the lithe, 
white birch tree on the hill stood leaning forward, 
seemingly more intent than ever on its view of 
that chamber window. Sue saw it, and for an 
instant her lips moved ; then her face gathered 
itself into an expression of determination more 
intense than before, and she bent again over her 
books. 


CHAPTER VI. 


SUE BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE CICERO CLASS. 

T nine o’clock Sue Orcutt had undoubtedly 



mastered the first ten lines of the poet 
Archias. It had not been all a question of trans- 
lation. She was not the kind of scholar who could 
call a lesson learned while any doubt remained as 
to constructions, or any question as to rules and 
reasons, and long after she had caught the mean- 
ing of those baffling lines she studied on, her ardor 
only sharpened for the difficulties that remained. 
Happily for her she did not guess how small a 
part of the first lesson those desperately acquired 
lines would form. She fancied, when at last she 
closed the book, that one day’s work, at least, had 
been prepared in advance, and with this much of 
vantage she believed she should be able to hold 
her own in the struggle whose difficulties she no 
longer underrated. 

It’ll be a tremendous pull for, a while,” she 
said to Bertha, whose sense of relief in the final 


84 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


victory was almost as great as her own, ^^and of 
course I shall have to slight the other studies at 
first; but I’ll make up for that by and by. It’s 
lucky for me that Mr. Hermon didn’t let me take 
four studies, as I wanted to. Dear me, I’m not 
half as smart as I thought I was.” 

She felt decidedly humble, and the memory of the 
boast she had made so easily that morning brought 
a faint little flush to her cheeks, victor though she 
was in the hard-fought battle. 

Let not him that putteth on the harness boast 
as him that putteth it off.” The wise old saying 
of the king of Israel came to her remembrance, 
and with it a dawning perception of the truth 
that the person who defers his boasting till he 
has earned the right will have small inclination 
for boasting at all. 

The ringing of the Academy bell the next morn- 
ing was a welcome sound, and the girls took their 
way to school with less anxious faces than on the 
previous day, though Sue declared it was only the 
feeling of the books in her hand that gave her 
the added courage. Otherwise she was sure she 
would have quaked more than before at the 
thought of meeting Mr. Hermon. 


SUE BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE CICERO CLASS. 85 

In the large chair on the chapel platform, among 
his corps of teachers, he looked more impressive 
than behind his desk, and it was plain that he 
had taken more pains with his dress than he had 
the day before. But it was not till he read the 
scripture for the morning, that marvellous chapter 
of Job, on the finding of wisdom, that the girls 
lost the sense of something almost uncouth in his 
personal appearance, and perhaps this was due to 
the power with which his deep voice led them 
wholly away from the thought of himself to the 
thought of the inspired writer. 

The arrangement of the term’s work had been 
thoroughly effected the day before, and the schedule 
of classes was read at the close of the exercise. 
Fortunately for Sue, who really could not put her 
mind on anything but the Cicero, that study was 
appointed for the first hour, and, as she had ex- 
pected, Mr. Hermon himself was the teacher. The 
office of yesterday was the place of recitation, and 
her heart beat fast as she stepped a second time 
across the threshold. To her surprise she found 
herself the only girl among the dozen or more 
pupils who were there before her. They stared a 
little as she entered, and she dropped her eyes 


86 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


with a conscious blush as she took the seat near- 
est the door. 

A minute later Mr. Hermon himself entered, and 
the boys greeted him with a sudden and vigorous 
clapping of hands. He checked his queer, plunging 
gait at the sound, and regarded the young people 
before him with a benevolent smile. Evidently he 
was not displeased, though he lifted his hand to check 
the demonstration in another moment. Boys,” he 
said, I believe you’re glad to be back in this room. 
Bless you all ! I’m glad to see you here ; but greet 
me after this with good lessons, and I shall appre- 
ciate the attention more than any other you can 
show me.” 

He dropped into his chair, whipped out his class- 
book, and called the roll with the air of one who 
wishes to clear at once all obstructions in the way 
of business. One of the first names read was that 
of Dick Julian, and Sue noted that the boy who 
responded with a careless Here,” was the youth 
who had acted as her special providence the day 
before. The name, Susan Orcutt, which came last, 
somehow fell upon her ear with a stranger sound 
than any of the others, and she wondered, as she an- 
swered, whether it really were that old acquaintance 


SUE BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE CICERO CLASS. 87 

of hers who was sitting there, Cicero in hand, or 
some other girl to whom she was quite a stranger. 

The odd, unnatural feeling passed, however, in a 
few minutes. There was no recitation that morn- 
ing, but Mr. Hermon occupied the time with talk of 
the great Roman whose works they were to study, 
sketching his life and character in vivid outline, 
and giving, in swift, glowing word pictures, glimpses 
of the time in which he lived. He dwelt with 
some detail on the oration for the poet Archias, 
which, as he said, would form the delightful, the 
inexpressibly delightful, introduction to the term’s 
work ; ” then, with that brusqueness of tone which 
Sue remembered from the day before, assigned 
the first thirty-five lines (or the Exordium, as he 
called it) for the initial lesson, and dismissed the 
class. 

Every one rose but Sue. She sat for a moment 
as if petrified. Thirty-five lines ! And with all the 
struggle of the day before she had mastered only 
ten! She glanced at her classmates to see how 
they bore the appalling statement, but apparently 
she herself was the only one disturbed. 

“ It must be mere play for every one of them but 
me,” thought the dismayed girl, and the question 


88 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


occurred to her at that moment whether Dick Julian 
had really been an angel in disguise the day before, 
or had merely acted as an assistant to her own evil 
genius in luring her on to destruction. 

The rest of the exercises at the Academy that 
morning had slight interest for her. She joined 
the chemistry class and took notes of the intro- 
ductory lecture. She sat with the students in 
English literature, and tried to prepare the topics 
for the next day’s lesson, but through it all her 
thoughts wandered persistently to those thirty-five 
lines, and when at last she was free to give herself 
up to them in her own room, she lost herself in 
speedy oblivion of everything else. She even re- 
sented it a little when Bertha suggested that the 
table which she was monopolizing with her books 
must be set for dinner, and asked rather peevishly 
why they couldn’t take something in their hands if 
they ^^must eat all the time.” 

Bertha made no response at the moment, but 
perhaps the question rankled a little, for later in 
the evening she remarked somewhat pensively that 
if things were to go on like this she didn’t see how 
Sue ever expected to get any time for housework. 
(She had generously refrained from making the 


SUE BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE CICERO CLASS. 89 

observation until after she had herself washed and 
put away the dishes.) 

Sue started, and for a moment looked really con- 
science stricken. Oh Bertha,” she said remorse- 
fully, I didn’t mean to let you do all the work 
alone to-night ! Why didn’t you tell me to come 
and help ? I forgot the dishes. I declare I forgot 
that there were such things as dishes, or in fact 
that there was anything in the world but this 
Latin lesson. But I’m getting hold of it, Bertha,” 
she went on, her eyes kindling. It isn’t near as 
hard for me as ’twas yesterday, and I do believe 
that after a few days I can get my lesson in a 
reasonable amount of time. Then you won’t find me 
shirking my part. I honestly didn’t mean to to-night.” 

Oh, I know it, I know it,” said Bertha patiently. 
She felt rather penitent now for having said a word, 
and she added, after a minute, ^^By the way. Sue, 
I’ve been thinking that perhaps I’d better get the 
meals for two weeks instead of one; that would 
give you a chance to get a good start, and besides 
it would be only fair. Father’ll be coming up by 
that time with a fresh supply from home, and you 
could begin as I did, with a full pantry instead of 
an empty one.” 


90 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


She was quite unconscious of the exquisite color 
she had given to her own generosity by attempting 
to make it seem a simple act of justice, but it was 
by no means lost upon Sue. 

‘^Oh Bertha,” she cried, pushing her books into 
a reckless heap before her, and springing up to 
throw her arms around her sister’s neck, “ the poet 
Archias is lovely, but there’s nothing in this world 
to match with you! It’s just like you to suggest 
such a thing, but you shan’t do it. It would be 
an outrage, and nothing short of it, for me to let 
you carry the heavy end of the work so long.” 

Perhaps the little quarrel, hot with sisterly affec- 
tion, which followed, was really a help to Sue in 
learning her lesson. For a quarter of an hour she 
forgot Cicero altogether, and when she returned to 
her task it was with fresh, exhilarated feeling. 
One hour more of concentrated effort, and the lines 
were hers. She read them to Bertha in the glow 
of her delight, rendering them in the best English 
at her command, and even then could not refrain 
from reading them to herself, over and over again, 
turning word and phrase with the willing pains of 
a true lover of language, in her longing to make 
the translation as worthy as possible of the great 


SUE BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE CICERO CLASS. 91 

original. It was far enough from perfect at last, 
she knew that, but she knew too that she had 
done her best. For a little while she stood before 
the window looking out into the still, soft moon- 
light, then she stole blissfully away to bed. 


CHAPTER VII. 


A TRIUMPH WHICH TURNS INTO SUDDEN DEFEAT. 

HERE was no timidity in Sue’s step when she 



entered the Cicero class the next morning. 
Mr. Hermon was not there, but the boys were 
most of them in their places, and it appeared to 
her that their faces were hardly as cheerful as on 
the previous morning. Indeed, an air of anxiety 
seemed to pervade the room. 

Have you got it, Julian?” demanded several 
voices in concert, as the boy with whom she 
already felt half acquainted, swung carelessly into 
the room. 

^^Got it?” he repeated in a grumbling tone. 
^^Well, I should rather say I haven’t. It is the 
toughest passage I ever struck, and an outrage- 
ously long lesson, into the bargain. I worked a 
solid hour on it last night, and couldn’t make 
head or tail of it. But, hang it,” he added, “it’s 
too much to expect of us to have the lesson the 
first day.” 


92 


A TRIUMPH TURNS INTO SUDDEN DEFEAT. 93 


That’s so/’ assented a half-a-dozen others^ and 
one of them added that, in view of this very obvi- 
ous fact, Mr. Hermon would probably let them off 
easy,” and read it himself. 

The expectation did not strike Sue as altogether 
reasonable, and Mr. Hermon’s manner, when he 
entered the room a moment later, hardly seemed 
to encourage it. He was slightly behind time, and 
had in his manner more than usual of that crusty 
impatience which he so often exhibited. It melted, 
however, when the roll was called, and the classic 
volume fairly open before him. 

^^Well, scholars,” he said, rubbing his great 
hands together, and regarding the class with a 
comprehensive smile, hope you’re all in love 
with Cicero this morning ! ” 

The expression of the class was not altogether 
responsive. Sarcastic, isn’t he?” whispered a boy 
back of Sue. 

Mr. Hermon did not hear it. It is a noble pas- 
sage which we have this morning,” he continued, 
^^an elegant introduction to the most elegant plea 
he ever made before the Roman bar.” 

He paused, and some one murmured interroga- 
tively, A little hard, though, isn’t it?” 


94 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


^^Hard?” repeated Mr. Hermon, regarding the 
questioner with a look of mild surprise. I don’t 
recall that fact in connection with it. I well 
remember that when I myself first read it I was 
so charmed with the thought and style, that I 
found it impossible to lay down the oration until 
I had read it to the end.” 

An irrepressible groan ran round the class. The 
boy back of Sue muttered something about ‘‘rub- 
bing it in.” Then he ventured aloud, “But you 
must remember, Mr. Hermon, that you were a 
genius. You’d scarcely expect anything of that 
sort from ^^s.” 

Mr. Hermon frowned. “ Genius, sir ! ” he re- 
peated. “How many times must I remind you 
that the chief part of genius is nothing more nor 
less than the capacity for downright, hard work ? 
Well,” he added, his voice softening a little, “per- 
haps I did have an unusual facility in the study 
of language, at least an unusual fondness for it. 
But let us see what we can do with this opening 
passage. Cady, you may render the first ten 
lines.” 

A tall boy in front of him half rose at the 
summons, then settled back into his seat again. 


A TRIUMPH TURNS INTO SUDDEN DEFEAT. 95 


The fact is, Mr. Hermon,’’ he said in an embar- 
rassed tone, those first lines gave me consid- 
erable trouble. I can’t say I really got hold of 
them.” 

bad beginning, Cady, a bad beginning,” said 
Mr. Hermon, with a shake of the head. ^^And 
let me tell you right here, that if there’s any truth 
in the old saying which I sometimes hear among 
you, that ^a bad beginning makes a good ending,’ 
I have never been able to discover it, sir. Colby, 
we will give you a chance at those lines.” 

The boy who sat next evidently did not covet 
the opportunity. I’m in the same boat with 
Cady, sir,” he mumbled apologetically. 

“ Boat ! ” repeated the principal, with a frown 
of displeasure. There is no ^ boat ’ in this room. 
Don’t make the confession of your ignorance the 
worse by couching it in the language of slang. 
Next ! ” 

The next boy rose to his feet, and heedless of 
the admonition which the irate principal had just 
given, said desperately that he wasn’t sure he 
could do it, but he’d make a stagger at it.” The 
stagger” was, however, so obviously a stumble 
that he was remanded to his seat by a sharp rap 


96 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


of the teacher’s pencil before he had proceeded 
far. 

“ Next ! ” ejaculated Mr. Hermon, whose impa- 
tience was evidently reaching a dangerous point, 
and ^^next!” he reiterated still more sharply when 
a dogged shaking of the head was the only re- 
sponse. The exasperated principal now rose to his 
feet. Jupiter Olympus in the act of hurling a 
thunder-bolt could scarcely have looked more ter- 
rible. Is there any one in this class,” he de- 
manded, ^^who can read those lines, and read them 
correctly ? ” 

If he had not added the last clause, and with 
such a fierceness of emphasis, probably several 
would have made the attempt, but anything short 
of positive knowledge would have been presump- 
tion now. There was dead silence for a moment, 
and Sue Orcutt suddenly discovered that hers was 
the only hand lifted in the class. 

‘^Miss Orcutt,” said the principal almost sternly, 
^^you may read.” 

She rose to her feet. She felt that she was 
making her debut as a member of the Cicero class 
at an awful moment, and her voice shook as she 
began the reading. But it steadied itself as she 


A TRIUMPH TURNS INTO SUDDEN DEFEAT. 97 


went on. There was no possibility of forgetting 
a word in the lines which had cost her so much 
study, and she rendered the passage without hesi- 
tation, smoothly and correctly. 

Admirable ! ” exclaimed the principal, and he 
added, bending upon her a look of peculiar surprise 
and pleasure, You may go on.” 

Nothing could have pleased Sue more than that 
permission. She resumed the reading with a thrill 
of delight in her voice, and, in the same clear, 
unhesitating manner as before, read the following 
lines. Once she paused, and sent a questioning 
glance toward Mr. Hermon, but apparently he had 
no wish that she should stop, and without pausing 
a second time, she read to the end of the lesson. 

When she sat down a murmur of applause ran 
round the class. Its teacher had been transformed 
from Jupiter the thunderer to Jupiter the radiant 
and benignant father. Miss Orcutt,” he said, 
bending towards her, I thank you. You have 
given' us a most excellent, a most charming trans- 
lation. And let me say, young gentlemen,” he 
added, turning to the masculine portion of the 
class, that she has saved your division this morn- 
ing from complete disgrace.” 


H 


98 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


Poor, happy Sue ! There was one half-hour of 
utter, unspeakable bliss, and then came a sudden 
and cruel transition. Perhaps her felicitous trans- 
lation had made Mr. Hermon more impatient of 
mistakes than usual, and, in spite of the help which 
her classmates might be supposed to have received 
from her reading, there was a surprising amount 
of crudity in the efforts that followed. Suddenly 
he clapped the covers of his book together and 
declared that he would waste no more time. 

^^The fact is,” he exclaimed, ^Hhere is only one 
member of the class who has prepared this lesson. 
Perhaps,” he continued with cold emphasis, per- 
haps you expected some indulgence on the ground 
that it is the first, but let me tell you, young gentle- 
men, that, in my opinion, that fact only makes your 
failing the more inexcusable.” 

He eyed the delinquents for a moment, with his 
forehead bent, and his eyes looking scorn from under 
his shaggy brows, then, pointing suddenly at the 
first boy in the row before him, he exclaimed, Mor- 
gan, how much time did you put on this lesson ? ” 

Sue started. She would not like to be called 
upon to answer that question; but surely, in view 
of the good recitation she had made, it would be. 


A TRIUMPH TURNS INTO SUDDEN DEFEAT. 


in her case, omitted. She listened calmly enough 
while it was put to her classmates, one after another, 
in quick succession. Most of them confessed to 
having spent but less than an hour. A few only 
thought they had spent a little more. 

^^It is just as I expected,” said Mr. Hermon. 

There can be only one explanation for such a 
lesson as this.” He paused for an instant, then 
turning suddenly to Sue, said with an accent of 
inexpressible sweetness, Miss Orcutt, will you have 
the goodness to tell us how much time you spent 
on this lesson?” 

A wave of crimson swept over Sue’s face and 
neck. To answer that question truthfully, to reveal 
that she had spent not so much hours as days in 
desperate struggle with those lines, would surely 
be to reveal her own lack of preparation for the 
study, to confess, before the whole class, what she 
had concealed when she gained admission to their 
number. A look of alarm, even of guilt, leaped 
into her wide, gray eyes, and her hands clasped 
themselves tightly together as if in an involuntary 
appeal for mercy. 

The silence which had preceded her offer to read 
the first lines was nothing to that which fell upon the 


lOO 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


class now. There was a sudden exchange of know- 
ing glances, a sudden lifting of eyebrows, and one 
boy shaped his lips into the inaudible word ‘‘PonyT 
But Sue saw nothing of this. She saw only Mr. 
Hermon’s face, and noted, in a half-dazed way, the 
rapid change in its expression. Surprise, disappoint- 
ment, grief, and then a stern displeasure replaced 
the smile of a moment before. 

will excuse you from answering that question,” 
he said slowly; then, turning to the other members 
of the class, said, with an inexpressible dejection of 
manner, You will take the same lesson to-morrow, 
with ten additional lines,” and dismissed them with 
a wave of his hand. 

Sue rose with the rest. Her face was pale now, 
and her lips quivered. She did not guess the con- 
struction which the class had put upon her silence. 
It did not once occur to her that Mr. Hermon him- 
self believed her guilty of a deceit from which every 
instinct of her nature would have recoiled in dis- 
gust and horror. She fancied, poor child, from the 
twinge in her own conscience, that he had guessed the 
little deception of which she had been tacitly guilty 
in that first interview, and was angry with her for 
gaining admission to the class under false pretences. 


A TRIUMPH TURNS INTO SUDDEN DEFEAT. lOI 


She lingered a moment as she passed his desk, 
and if he had given her a single glance she would 
have confessed everything then and there; but he 
did not give her a single glance, and she hurried 
on, heartsick and miserable. 

In the chemistry class Bertha noticed how un- 
happy she looked, and wondered whether it were 
possible that, in spite of all her study, she had failed 
in reciting that dreadful lesson. She whispered the 
question as the class broke up, but a desperate 
“Don’t ask me,” was Sue’s only response. It was 
not till they were in their room at noon that she 
heard the story. Then Sue gave it in full, and 
even in the depths of this after bitterness could not 
repress the note of triumph in her voice, as she told 
how she alone of all the class had read these difficult 
lines, and Mr. Hermon himself had pronounced the 
rendering fine. 

“ And then he went and asked that horrid ques- 
tion,” she ended, with the tears rushing hotly into 
her eyes, “and how could I tell him?” 

“You couldn’t, of course,” said Bertha, in her 
perfectly matter-of-fact way. “I don’t believe you 
could have reckoned all the time you spent on that 
lesson if you had tried. Why didn’t you say you 


102 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


didn’t know; that you didn’t take any account of 
time, but just kept on studying till you had learned 
it?” 

Oh, why didn’t I ? ” groaned Sue. Bertha, 
you’re a great deal cleverer than I am.” And then 
she added, a doubt of the sufficiency even of this 
excellent answer crossing her mind, as a merciful 
relief to her own sense of stupidity. But I don’t 
believe even that would have saved me. He’d have 
known something was wrong or I should have been 
able to make some sort of estimate. Oh, it was 
like murder, it was sure to come out.” 

She groaned again as the remembrance of that 

awful moment swept over her, then went on pite- 

ously, ^^But you can’t think what a look he gave 
me. He saw everything in a flash, and set me 
down for a hypocrite and a fraud. Oh, I know he 
did ! I could feel his eyes boring right into me, 
and the way he said, ^ I will excuse you from an- 
swering that question,’ was something fearful.” 

^‘Well, I think it was a perfect shame for him 
to treat you like that if he had found out,” said 
Bertha hotly. “ Of course it would have been bet- 
ter if you had told him the exact truth at the 

start, and I said so all the time, but you had 


A TRIUMPH TURNS INTO SUDDEN DEFEAT. 103 

shown that you could read Cicero even without 
the usual preparation^ and I don’t see what there 
was for him to be so mad about.” 

Sue had not alluded to her own frantic blushing, 
and she had quite omitted to describe the look of 
guilt and alarm which she had sent towards Mr. 
Hermon. Possibly even Bertha would have guessed, 
had she seen it, that he labored under some strange 
misapprehension . 

^^Well, I wouldn’t think any more about it,” she 
said, after a moment consumed in silent indigna- 
tion over the injustice her sister had suffered. 

You made a perfectly splendid record on this first 
lesson, and I’m just as proud of you as I can be.” 

We are bidden in the great Book to let 
brotherly love continue,” but, ah, what a world 
this would be could sisterly love but begin and 
hold full sway in the hearts of its people ! Sue 
dried her eyes and held up her head again. She 
even ate heartily of the luncheon Bertha set out, 
and to which she had added, as a special consola- 
tion to her sister, a dish of their mother’s best 
preserve. 

The lesson for another day was prepared with 
the same scrupulous care as before, and when Sue 


104 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


entered the class the next morning, it was with a 
fluttering hope that Mr. Hermon might have for- 
gotten his displeasure. She had strong doubt of 
it, however, when the lesson was over. He had 
not called upon her for any part in the recitation, 
and the short, peremptory speaking of her name 
in roll-call was the only sign he had given that he 
knew of her presence. 

It was terribly depressing, but again Bertha came 
to her rescue. For her part, she could see plenty 
of reason why her sister should not be called upon 
to recite when she had read the entire lesson the 
day before. That would have been to slight some 
of the idlers who certainly needed to be held rigor- 
ously to their work. 

This sounded plausible, but the weight did not 
lift from Sue’s heart. She said nothing, however. 
She set herself bravely to the work she had to do, 
and fortunately there was enough of it to leave 
her little time for morbid musing. She was not, 
however, proof against the bitterness of soul which 
took possession of her with another recitation. If 
there had been any hope for her before in Bertha’s 
solution of Mr. Hermon’s action, it would have 
vanished now and completely. 


A TRIUMPH TURNS INTO SUDDEN DEFEAT. 105 

The lines for the day had been rendered indif- 
ferently by the class. One passage in particular 
had been bungled by successive readers. ^^Is there 
any one who can read it better ? ” the teacher had 
asked, and with a sudden throbbing of hope Sue 
had timidly lifted her hand. Surely Mr. Hermon 
saw it, for his eyes swept the class with the glance 
of an eagle, but he passed it by and read the lines 
himself. 

It was more than the proud, high-spirited girl 
could bear. Her hand dropped helplessly at her 
side, and for a moment her eyes swam with tears. 
Then she lifted her book, and dashed away the 
big, salt drops behind its friendly covers. 

Talking things over at the room that night, 
Bertha expressed a very decided opinion. ^^If I 
were you. Sue,” she said, ^^I’d go straight to Mr. 
Hermon and have an understanding. If he doesn’t 
want you in the class, he ought to say so. For 
my part I should a thousand times rather not be 
in it, than to stay and be treated like that.” 

Sue was silent for a moment, then she shook 
her head, and her lips straightened themselves to a 
line which Bertha knew of old. ^^If Mr. Hermon 
wants to send me out of the class,” she said, ‘^he 


io6 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


has plenty of chance. I’m not going to deliber- 
ately ask him to do it. It’s bad enough to sit 
there like a graven image day after day, but I 
suppose I can learn my lessons and get the bene- 
fit of his instruction, for all that. Oh Bertha, 
he’s a perfectly wonderful teacher ! I never imag- 
ined till I was in his class that anybody could 
know as much as he does.” 

In its way her decision was undoubtedly a vic- 
tory, but it carried with it no sense of gladness. 
She remembered just then, with a melancholy 
smile, her mother’s saying that she’d know the 
difference easily enough between Merton Academy 
and Heaven. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


SUE MAKES A VISIT TO THE LIBRARY AND OVER- 
HEARS A BIT OF RATHER INTERESTING CONVERSA- 
TION. 

TF all the weeks of a term at school were as 
long as the first, what an extraordinary space 
of time young people would have for the improve- 
ment of their minds ! It seemed to the Orcutt 
girls, when that first Saturday came, that they had 
been away from home at least a month already. 
They were not sorry for the day’s release from 
school duties. Indeed, the time was needed for 
bringing up the arrears of domestic work and set- 
ting their household affairs in order, and, as their 
mother had wisely pointed out, Saturday was just 
the time to do it. 

With the present division of labor, the washing 
fell to Sue, and promptly after breakfast she be- 
took herself to the laundry, which Mrs. Porter 
kindly placed at their disposal, and installed her- 


o8 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


self as mistress of the tub. She did not dislike 
the position. Washing was a kind of work which 
one could do, and at the same time build an air- 
castle or weave a rhyme, and there had been 
hours in Sue’s life when she could have said, with 
Miss Alcott’s blythe heroine : 

Queen of the tub, I merrily sing, 

While the white foam dashes high. 

And cheerily wash, and rinse, and wring, 

And fasten the clothes to dry.” 

But not this morning. There had been a weight 
at her heart ever since that wretched moment in 
the Cicero class three days ago, and if her work 
could only have absorbed her thought more com- 
pletely, she would have been heartily glad. 

Meanwhile, in the regions above, Bertha with a 
lighter heart was accomplishing her part of the 
day’s business. The three round loaves of salt- 
rising bread ” (for which she had set the sponge 
betimes that morning) rose to a glorious height ; 
the ^^feather-cake,” which she had selected as her 
initial effort because the receipt only called for one 
egg and a piece of butter the size of a walnut,” 
justified its name by its exquisite lightness, and her 
crisp, crumbling crullers” would have been worthy 


SUE MAKES A VISIT TO THE LIBRARY. 


109 


of a place on the table of Frau Van Tassel herself. 
Everything moved as if by magic under the hand 
of the energetic young housewife. 

By two o’clock that afternoon the work which 
had been planned for the day was finished. The 
washing swung in the sunshine, the rooms were 
swept and garnished, the pantry was spick and 
span, and the kitchen stove shone with a fine, new 
polish. 

If mother could only look in on us now ! ” said 
Bertha wistfully, and for a moment both the girls 
were silent, thinking with what a satisfaction it 
would crown their labors if her glance of approval 
could only rest on them all. 

Perhaps it was the touch of homesickness which 
came with the thought that she was far away, which 
made Sue exclaim suddenly, Bertha, what do you 
say to spending the rest of the afternoon at the 
library? I believe ’twould do us more good than 
anything else in the world. For my part, I’ve been 
pining to get back there ever since last Monday.” 

Bertha’s eyes widened with a doubtful expres- 
sion. She was fond of books, but it had never been 
the custom of the Orcutt family to sit down to read 
when there was any work that could be done. That 


I lO 


THE OR CUT T GIRLS. 


recreation had been always reserved for evenings, 
and for Sundays. 

It would be nice to go,” she said hesitatingly, 
‘^but I don’t quite know as we ought.” Her eyes 
wandered to the window, and she added more 
briskly, Judging from the way those clothes flap, 
I should think they were almost dry, and maybe 
we could get them ironed before supper. If we 
only could, I should feel as if we’d finished up 
this week’s work in splendid shape.” 

The look which she bestowed upon her sister 
with the last words was persuasive, but Sue was 
seized with a sudden spirit of revolt. 

Oh Bertha,” she groaned, how can you men- 
tion it ? I always did think enough was as good as 
a feast, especially when it came to the supply of 
housework. I declare, I won’t iron a piece this 
afternoon ! You may do your things if you want 
to, but you mustn’t touch a single dud of mine. I’ll 
iron them before breakfast some day next week — 
or wear them rough dry,” she threw in recklessly. 

There’s an aching void in me that nothing but 
that library can fill, and there’ll be no answering 
for the consequences if I don’t get there.” 

It certainly would have been a waste of energy 


SUE MAXES A VISIT TO THE LIBRARY. 


I I I 


to have resisted the longing she felt just then for 
a book. The pity of it was that she really felt a 
little guilty as she hurried off. don’t mean to 
stay very long,” she called back to Bertha when 
she was half-way down the stairs. At any rate, 
I’ll be home before dark.” 

You’d better not make any rash promises,” said 
Bertha. She knew too well what the consequences 
were likely to be if her sister once settled herself 
with an engrossing book; but she added no further 
admonition. 

A few minutes later she herself was in the dry- 
ing-yard investigating the state of the clothes, and 
before supper more than half of the week’s ironing 
was done. She would gladly have done it all, but 
a truer generosity made her leave untouched the 
pieces that belonged personally to Sue, for she 
would not force upon her sister the feeling that 
she had taken her recreation at the expense of 
another. 

‘^Perhaps some people do have to break away 
from work now and then,” she said to herself mus- 
ingly, and then she added with a more positive 
conviction, Anyway, with that feeling upon her, 
she wouldn’t have amounted to anything here.” 


1 12 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


Meanwhile in the library Sue had found her 
Elysium. For a while she had wandered about 
the room, filled with the mere delight of looking 
at those rows upon rows of books ; then she had 
strayed to the poets’ corner, and established her- 
self in the deep window seat with the Lady of the 
Lake. 

It was a pleasant corner; a long projecting case 
of books cut it off from the main apartment, and 
made its seclusion more complete than that of 
any other part of the room. This, in itself, was 
an attractive feature to Sue. Then, too, the vol- 
umes of poetry had for her a peculiar fascination, 
and the final charm was given to the spot by a 
picture which hung full in the light of the warm 
south window. There were a number of pictures, 
mostly engravings, scattered about the room, some 
of which were familiar from the frontispieces in 
the few classic volumes at home, but the face 
which looked down from the poets’ corner was 
that of a stranger. It was a young face, so young 
indeed as to seem almost that of a child, yet so 
beautiful in its sweet seriousness, so touched with 
the impress of a high personality, that for a while 
it held Sue’s eyes and heart completely. 


4 





V 


k 








\ 




■■ 


n- 









I 






i. 


♦- 


» 


» * 



• - 1 •» 


\ 


*» *> 


4 ’ 


I 


ft* i 


9 . 




a 


THE WIZARD OF THE NORTH HAD HER COMPLETELY IN HIS POWER." 


SUE MAKES A VISIT TO THE LIBRARY. I 13 

He must have been one of the poets/’ she said 
to herself, and it seemed to her that if she could 
only find the words he had written they would 
prove to be a message straight to herself. In the 
absence of any clue, however, she presently con- 
soled herself with the Lady of the Lake, and for 
the next few hours the Wizard of the North ” 
had her as completely in his power as if he had 
really touched her with an enchanted wand. 

She was a rapid reader. Her eyes seemed fairly 
to devour a page as they flew over it, and the 
volume was finished when at length she laid it 
down. The last canto she had read (though she 
did not know it) with her face almost touching 
the page, and she was startled now to see how 
dark the room had grown. The names of the 
books around her had almost faded from their 
covers, and the beautiful young face had grown 
indistinct in the twilight. 

Evidently it was time to go home, but the spell 
of the enchanter was not quite broken, and for a 
little longer she sat in her place, dreaming of the 
fair Ellen, and the bold Khoderick Dhu, the latter 
of whom, like all spirited young people, she much 
preferred to the accepted lover. 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


II4 

Suddenly she was roused by the sound of voices 
quite near her. Whether or not she had been the 
only occupant of the library for the last three 
hours, she did not know. All the students at the 
Academy might have filed in and out without 
her hearing them while she was occupied with 
that entrancing volume, and in her retired position 
they might easily enough have failed to see her. 
It was plain, however, that at this moment there 
were two persons in the room beside herself, and 
the voice of one of them had a familiar accent. 

I say, old fellow,” — the words struck suddenly 
into her musing, — have you got out the Cicero 
for Monday ? If you haven’t, suppose we put 
our heads together this evening and see what we 
can do. It’s an awfully hard lesson, and prodig- 
iously long into the bargain.” 

Of course it is,” growled the other ; that’s the 
way it goes with Mr. Hermon. He’s just as likely 
to give us fifty lines in the toughest place as the 
easiest. I suppose it’s because everything came so 
confoundedly easy to him, that he doesn’t know 
the difference between what’s hard and what isn’t. 
But I tell you he’s got a deal to answer for in 
the temptation he puts on poor wretches like us.” 


SUE MAKES A VISIT TO THE LIBRARY. I15 

So he has/’ said the first speaker, and Sue 
identified the voice now as belonging to Dick Julian. 

For my part, I think he’s altogether too hard on 
that Miss Orcutt. I feel downright sorry for her. 
The way she looked yesterday when he wouldn’t 
let her read, would have moved the heart of a 
hitching-post. I’ll wager she’s studying like a 
Trojan now, and he might let bygones be bygones. 
Hang it all, I think there are times when a body 
has a perfect right to use a pony ! ” 

Strange as it may seem. Sue Orcutt heard that 
last word without the slightest idea of its peculiar 
meaning. What meaning indeed should it have to 
a simple little girl who had lived all her life in 
the country, and had studied nowhere save in a 
district school ? The remark did, to be sure, strike 
her as somewhat irrelevant, but for that matter 
she scarcely gave it a thought. What really inter- 
ested her was the sympathy expressed in her own 
hard fortune, and she felt grateful to Dick Julian 
for his outspoken opinion that Mr. Hermon might 
let bygones be bygones. If he only would ! She 
felt uncomfortable and annoyed at her own position 
as a listener, but the embarrassment of going forward 
now kept her in her place a moment longer. 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


1 16 

wouldn’t do for Mr. Hermon to hear you 
say that,” said the other lightly, ^‘and anyway, 
it’s no use trying to get round him. He always 
finds it out if you cheat the least bit in the world, 
and there’s no mercy to be had from him after that. 
You might as well commit the seven deadly sins and 
be done with it. Come,” he added ; it’s time to be 
going. I’ll be up at your room this evening.” 

There was a pushing of chairs, and a moment 
later Sue heard the door slam behind her depart- 
ing classmates. 

It was easy enough to leave the Lady of the 
Lake now. The spell had been completely broken, 
and the girl felt herself once more in the world 
of her own griefs and troubles. 

She put the volume back on the shelf and 
turned away from the poets’ corner. Bertha was 
probably wishing at this moment that she would 
come. She remembered her promise to her sister, 
with a twinge of conscience, and hastily left the 
room. But as she hurried through the darkening 
streets her thoughts brooded bitterly on this one 
thing, that Mr. Hermon kept a merciless resent- 
ment for the pupil who had once deceived him 
the least bit in the world. 


CHAPTER IX. 


THE LITTLE DRESSMAKER COMES TO SUE’s RESCUE. 

S UPPER was on the table when Sue reached 
the rooms, and Bertha, seated by the evening 
lamp, was busily engaged in darning stockings. 

“ Did you have a good time reading ? she 
asked cheerfully, as her sister entered. 

Oh, beautiful,” responded Sue, but for once 
she seemed little inclined to talk about the book 
she had been reading. As for that scrap of con- 
versation which she had overheard, she had half 
made up her mind to say nothing about it. There 
was no use in troubling Bertha any more. 

No doubt her sister could have drawn her out 
if she had tried, but she was in a hurry to de- 
spatch the evening meal, and besides, she had some- 
thing of her own to report. She had received a 
call from a girl whose acquaintance she had made 
during the week in the algebra class, and who had 
furnished various items of interest concerning the 

117 


Il8 THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 

Academy. Among others, she had mentioned a 
Saturday night meeting, of a semi-religious char- 
acter, which Mr. Hermon was in the habit of 
holding in his own recitation room for those who 
chose to come. His talks, she declared, w^ere some- 
thing wonderful, and she had promised to stop on 
her way that evening for Sue and Bertha. 

Sue winced. She had no desire to put herself 
unnecessarily into the presence of the man whose 
displeasure she felt so keenly, and she said at once 
that she could not go, that she must spend the 
evening in study. To which, however, she added, 
that she hoped her staying would make no differ- 
ence mth Bertha. Bertha did not let it. She 
had given her word to her new friend, and a half- 
hour later, when the latter appeared, she joined 
her in the walk to the Academy, leaving her sis- 
ter to her own company and that of her books. 

For a while the books lay unopened on the 
table. Sue had meant to spend the evening in 
study. Half of her Cicero was yet to translate, but 
somehow, for the first time, the girl almost felt as 
if she did not care to translate it. After all, did the 
privilege of sitting in Mr. Herrnon’s . class-room, 
and hearing the words of wisdom which fell from 


THE LITTLE DRESSMAKER TO SUE'S RESCUE. iig 

his lips, compensate her for feeling herself a sort 
of Pariah, cut off relentlessly from his good opin- 
ion ? In her thought she accused him of being 
hard-hearted and cruel, and she wondered, with a 
bitter sort of smile, what kind of a talk he would 
make in that meeting of his, if asked to expound 
the text, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall 
obtain mercy/’ 

She was not much given to crying, but she felt 
so utterly wretched, as she sat there alone, that 
the tears came, and she did not try to check them. 
She had given herself up so wholly to melancholy 
that she did not hear a patter of steps on the 
stairs, and a brisk tap at the door had been fol- 
lowed by a cheery May I come in ? ” before she 
realized that a caller had come to invade her 
quiet. 

She knew in an instant that it must be the 
little dressmaker, who, during the week, had been 
working out of town. Saturday night had brought 
her home, and doubtless she had thought it a 
friendly thing to look in on the new roomers. Sue 
wished with all her heart that she had postponed 
the neighborly errand. Miss Graham was the last 
person by whom she wished to be found in her 


120 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


present state, but apparently there was no help for 
it. 

She dashed away the tears with one hand, and 
with the other put out the light of the student 
lamp. Then, as briskly as possible, she called, 
Yes, come,” but she knew that her voice sounded 
watery in spite of herself, and the lamp, whose 
flame had been unceremoniously quenched by flap- 
ping a paper at the top of the chimney, revenged 
itself by sending up a sullen cloud of smoke as the 
door opened. 

Ah,” exclaimed the little dressmaker, whose 
quick eyes noted everything in a flash, see you 
remember my fondness for sitting in the dark. 
How nice of you ! ” 

She accepted the chair Sue offered her, and es- 
tablished herself before the fire in the easy manner 
of the week before. It was evident that she at 
least was in her former good spirits, and if she 
perceived the villanous odor of the lamp, for 
which Sue was apologizing profusely, it did not 
appear to annoy her. 

My dear,” she declared gayly, you should have 
your olfactories in better training. What’s the use 
of being all taken up with a whiff of kerosene, when 


THE LITTLE DRESSMAKER TO SUE'S RESCUE. 12 1 


there are plenty of agreeable odors to be had for 
the sniffing ? ” 

She elevated her small nose as she spoke, and 
added reflectively, ^ Fe, fl, fo, fum, I smell ’ — 
baked beans ! Upon my word I do ! There’s a 
pot of them in the oven this minute, getting ready 
for your breakfast to-morrow morning, and if there 
are not a lot of good things, fresh baked, in the 
pantry, I’m mightily mistaken, that’s all.” 

Sue smiled in spite of herself. The little dress- 
maker’s gayety was infectious. Ynu’re a pretty 
good guesser,” she said. ^^At least you know what 
folks are likely to have for breakfast Sunday morn- 
ing. For that matter, though, possibly you do get 
the odor of the beans, for I had the oven door open 
just now. But as for the things in the pantry, you 
can’t smell those unless your smelling faculty is 
entirely different from Sam Weller’s ^wision.’” 

Miss Graham laughed, and admitted that circum- 
stances altered cases. There were times when her 
faculties were keener than at others. Then she 
fell to guessing what the good things were which 
were to be found in the larder of the young house- 
keepers, and Sue was presently recounting with 
much animation her sister’s culinary exploits, to 


122 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


which her caller listened with approving nods, and 
the gratifying assurance that she was not in the 
least surprised. 

Next week I shall be the cook myself,” added 
Sue, whose accent had really grown quite cheerful. 

I don’t intend to let Bertha carry off all the 
honors, though she was heartless enough to pro- 
pose to keep the post a week longer. Between you 
and me. Miss Graham, I have a suspicion that she 
doesn’t count much on my abilities along that line, 
but I’ll show her a thing or two, see if I don’t.” 

Of course you will,” said the little dressmaker, 
and I shall want a full account of your triumphs. 
I only hope you won’t live too high, you girls, in 
your zeal at housekeeping. ^ Plain living and high 
thinking’ is the rule for ambitious young people. 
But how have you been getting on at school? Tell 
me about that.” 

For a moment Sue did not speak, and when she 
did, the little dressmaker noted that the cheerful 
accent had quite gone from her voice. 

Oh, , we’re getting used to things,” she said with 
an obvious constraint, but we’ve had to study 
pretty hard this first week, — ’specially me.” 

“ Why, I had an idea that you learned the easier 


THE LITTLE DRESSMAKER TO SUE'S RESCUE. 123 

of the two,” said the little dressmaker ; I sup- 
posed you took to books like a duck to water.” 

This was rather gratifying, and Sue could not 
help explaining herself a little. I do learn easily 
as a general thing,” she said, ^^but the Latin has 
been giving me some trouble. You see I haven’t 
had as much preparation for Cicero as the rest of 
the class, and it comes pretty hard at first.” 

She made this gentle statement quite as if it 
were a fact of no account; then the full mean- 
ing of it, and the memory of all she had suffered 
in consequence, rushed over her, and she caught 
her breath with something that sounded like an 
incipient sob. 

Miss Graham was puzzled. She had wholly 
mistaken this girl if there was in her make-up 
any shrinking from hard work. Something had 
evidently gone wrong. 

‘^Well, you mustn’t feel discouraged,” she said 
cheerily. Perhaps Mr. Hermon doesn’t take your 
disadvantages fully into account, and expects too 
much of you at first. But it won’t take him long 
to do you full justice. There’s no one in the world 
who respects downright hard work more than he 
does, and he’s tenderness itself over the mis- 


124 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


takes of a scholar who has really tried her 
best” 

She had, without knowing it, driven an arrow 
into the very heart of Sue’s grief, and it was 
more than the girl could bear. 

^^You don’t know anything about him if you 
think that ! ” she exclaimed fiercely. He’s the 
hardest hearted man I ever saw. He doesn’t care 
a bit how hard you’ve worked. He doesn’t care if 
you’ve learned your lesson perfectly. It all goes 
for nothing if — if — ” she paused a moment, then 
went on incoherently — if you’ve kept anything 
back beforehand. I did keep something back, but 
it was only because I wanted a chance to work the 
harder, and now he treats me with perfect con- 
tempt. He acts as if I wasn’t fit even to be 

counted one of his scholars.” 

Her voice broke with a sob of the most unmis- 
takable sort now, and the tears she had driven 

back at the little dressmaker’s coming rushed out 
in a perfect flood. 

Miss Graham was bewildered. She had cheered 
more than one disconsolate maiden in that room, 
and had rather prided herself on her skill in doing 
it, but the attack from which Sue was suffering 


THE LITTLE DRESSMAKER TO SUE'S RESCUE. 125 

appeared to her to be of a wholly new and un- 
precedented sort. ^‘Why, I don’t understand,” she 
gasped. It’s the strangest thing I ever heard of. 
Tell me about it. Tell me everything.” 

Sue gulped down her sobs with a desperate 
effort. Yes, she would tell everything ; she was 
hungry for sympathy, and fierce in her longing 
to shatter the ideal which this mistaken admirer 
of Mr. Hermon had set up. It was a long story, 
but she gave it from beginning to end without 
stopping. She told of that first interview, when 
the question of her studies was at issue, and of 
the turn of fortune by which she had evaded 
answering his question as to her preparation for 
Cicero ; of the hours she had spent in mastering 
that first lesson, and how she had read it on the 
following day, — she alone of all the class, — and 
Mr. Hermon had praised and thanked her. Then, 
in a voice thick with tears, she gave the climax 
of the story, how Mr. Hermon had asked that 
cruel question, and guessed her secret in the silence 
which she had been fairly unable to break. 

It was at this point that the little dressmaker, 
who had listened with a breathless interest, inter- 
rupted for the first time. A smile was quivering 


126 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


at the corners of her mouth, though her eyes' were 
unmistakably moist. Oh, you poor, dear child ! ” 
she cried. ‘‘ I suppose you blushed to the roots of 
your hair and looked as if you were scared half 
out of your senses.” 

I don’t know how I looked, I’m sure,” groaned 
Sue ; but I know I felt hot all over, and I almost 
wished the floor would open and swallow me up.” 

Of course, of course ! ” cried the little dress- 
maker in a tone of positive delight. Oh, you 
poor, stupid little thing! Don’t you see what he 
thought? Don’t you see the only thing he could 
have thought?” 

Sue did not speak for a moment. Miss Graham’s 
tone struck her as singularly unsuited to the occa- 
sion. 

Oh,” exclaimed the latter, letting go of the 
girl’s hand, which she had seized in her excitement, 
and clasping both her own above her head, to 
think that a girl who could learn that lesson should 
be so utterly daft over a simple thing like this 1 
It wasn’t that he thought you had spent so much 
time in learning it, you demented little goose, but 
that you hadn’t spent any. Don’t you see ? ” 

Sue stared at Miss Graham like a person dazed. 


THE LITTLE DRESSMAKER TO SUE'S RESCUE. 127 

A new idea, but one of such an overwhelming sort 
that it simply took her breath away, had suddenly 
dawned upon her. 

Why, it’s just as plain as the nose on your 
face — in fact, a great deal plainer than it is in 
this light — that he thought you were cheating 
about the lesson, and had been using a pony.” 

Sue found her voice now. She remembered sud- 
denly that she had heard that word before. Miss 
Graham,” she exclaimed, what is a ^pony’?” 

A pony?” repeated the woman of the world, 
why, it’s a ready-made translation, a thing you 
mount and ride on over hard places, instead of 
stumping along as you ought to, on your own two 
feet.” 

The tragedy had begun to assume the complexion 
of a farce, and there was a sound in the little dress- 
maker’s voice at that moment suspiciously like a 
laugh. But there was no laughing for Sue. She 
sprang to her feet with a look which made her 
companion instantly sober. 

What are you going to do ? ” she asked, as the 
girl darted past her towards the door. 

Do ? ” repeated Sue ; I’m going straight to 
Mr. Hermon. If he thinks I did a thing like that! 


128 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


If he thinks I’m such a cheating hypocrite — such 
a — ” There were simply no words to express her 
feelings, and she whirled herself into her cloak 
and hat in an unspeakable silence. 

Miss Graham was scarcely prepared for the effect 
which had been produced by her solution of the 
mystery, and yet she hardly wondered at the in- 
tensity of the girl’s feeling. 

Well, he certainly ought to know how it is,” 
she said decidedly. It would make all the dif- 
ference in the world with his point of view. But 
is it best to tell him while you’re so excited ? 
Wouldn’t it be better to wait till Monday, and see 
him after class ? ” 

^^Wait?” cried Sue, with a look which would 
have been severe if she had been ordering Satan 
to get behind her ; I won’t wait an instant 
longer than it takes me to get to the Academy. 
He’s there now, and I must see him to-night. I 
shall go crazy if I don’t get this thing off my 
mind.” 

Miss Graham began to think there really was 
some danger. But you mustn’t go alone,” she 
said, rising. ^^Let me go with you.” 

Sue waved her hand impatiently. She could 


THE LITTLE DRESSMAKER TO SUE^S RESCUE, 1 29 

not wait even long enough for the nimble little 
dressmaker to put on her wraps. “ It’s just about 
time for the meeting to be out, and I shall meet 
Bertha,” she said. Then, without another word, 
she dashed out of the room and down the 
stairs. 


CHAPTER X. 


SUE HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. THEOPHILUS 
HERMON. 

TT was a sharp, winter evening, and the tingle 
in the air mingled with the tingle in Sue’s 
veins as she hurried towards the Academy. It 
would not do to actually run through the streets 
of Merton, but the rate at which she sped along 
made more than one sober-minded person turn and 
look wonderingly after her. She was not calm 
enough to try to arrange what she should say to 
Mr. Hermon. Perhaps (the doubt crossed her mind 
more than once) he was not really under the 
illusion which Miss Graham had supposed, but the 
very possibility set every nerve quivering with 
shame. She would tell him the truth now, the 
whole truth. It was the only possible relief. 

The meeting had evidently not been a long one, 
and as she drew near the Academy she met groups 
of students on their way home. Bertha did not 
130 


SUE HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. HERMON. 1 31 

seem to be among them. Probably she had taken 
a different way from the usual one with her new 
friend. After all, it did not matter, Sue said to 
herself; she could do her errand alone. 

The lights were still burning in the room where 
the meeting had been held, and through the windows 
she caught a glimpse of Mr. Hermon himself in 
the act of putting on his coat. A minute more 
and she would have been too late. Her heart 
began to beat furiously, and she scarcely breathed 
as she flew down the path and up the Academy 
steps. In the hall she met Mr. Hermon. He was 
passing out with his head bent, apparently in a 
deeper abstraction than usual. He would have 
passed without seeing her if she had not stopped 
him. 

Oh, Mr. Hermon,’’ she said, with her voice in 
a flutter, may I see you just a minute ? I want 
to tell you something — something important.” 

Mr. Hermon pulled himself out of his abstraction 
and looked at her for a moment with a wondering 
expression. Perhaps he did not remember the eager 
young face. He seemed somehow a little puzzled, 
but he said, Oh yes,” in a rather indifferent tone, 
and turned back into the room. He did not ask 


132 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


her to sit down, but stood facing her, with his 
elbow on his desk, in an attitude of listening. If 
he had shown more interest, if he had even seemed 
to know her, it would have been easier for Sue, 
but she was resolved to make no pause. 

It’s about the Cicero,” she said; ‘^I wanted to 
tell you about that first lesson, and how it hap- 
pened that I didn’t answer the question you asked 
me.” 

There was no doubt about his recognition now. 
The great face lighted with a sudden interest, 
and his eyes looked searchingly into hers. That’s 
right,” he said quickly ; I’m glad you have come ; ” 
and then he waited for her to go on. 

I suppose I ought to have told you everything 
at first,” she began. ‘^I really didn’t mean to 
deceive you. At least — at least,” her voice began 
to falter, “ I didn’t think it was anything so very 
bad.” 

The look in his eyes grew sterner. Perhaps he 
thought her conscience was not yet fully awake, 
but she went on swiftly. “ You see it was this 
way. There wasn’t any class in Latin that was 
just right for me to go into. I had never read 
anything but Andrews’ Reader. I had studied 


SUE HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. HERMON. 1 33 

Latin all by myself, except for one term when 
the teacher taught me after school. It was a dis- 
trict school, but we had a student from college 
sometimes in the winter. When you said there 
was no class in Caesar or Sallust, it frightened me 
for a minute, and then I just made up my mind 
that I’d go into the Cicero if I could. It seemed 
so dreadful to go back over what I had studied, 
when I could only be here for one term ! ” 

There was a pleading tone in her voice, but 
the look in his eyes did not soften. It grew even 
sterner, though the sternness was mingled now 
with an obvious surprise. Possibly he thought she 
was making a plea in extenuation of her offence 
in connection with that first lesson. It seemed to 
Sue that he might have said just a word, but she 
did not wait for it. She went on more pleadingly 
than before. 

I didn’t say I was ready for Cicero. When 
you asked me the question, I honestly would have 
told you, but just then a boy came in and inter- 
rupted, and after that you took it for granted 
without my saying a word. I didn’t mean to 
deceive you, truly I didn’t, but I was so glad to 
be in the class, and I thought you wouldn’t mind 


134 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


if I got the lessons.” She choked back a great 
lump that rose in her throat, and added, ^^That 
was why that first lesson was so fearfully hard 
for me.” 

I should think so,” ejaculated Mr. Hermon, 
and a grim little ghost of a smile flitted for a 
moment across the sternness of his face. 

It was so hard,” she went on, “ that I worked 
for two days to get it. The constructions were 
so new, and the thought so difierent from any- 
thing I had ever had, that it seemed sometimes as 
if I should never gei it. But I couldn’t give it up. 
Somehow it seemed to me that I should be beaten 
for all my life if I did.” 

Mr. Hermon started, and the grim little ghost 
of a smile flashed suddenly into a quick, sharp 
question. Then you did get it ? Do you mean 
to tell me that you rendered that exceptionally 
fine translation by your own unaided efforts ? ” 

Oh yes, sir,” she cried ; “ in the end I mas- 
tered it. Nobody helped me. And T tried to put 
it into the best words I could, it seemed so beau- 
tiful.” 

Mr. Hermon’s face was a study. My dear 
young lady ! ” he ejaculated ; and then he burst 


SUE HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH MR'. HERMON. 135 

out, ^^But I don’t understand it yet. Why didn’t 
you tell me this in the class? Why did you hang 
your head, and allow me to put the construction 
I did upon your silence?” 

His voice was almost fierce, as if he felt him- 
self the victim of some strange injustice. 

Oh, don’t you see ? ” she cried, clasping her 
hands ; I thought if I told you how much time 
I had spent on that lesson, you would know, and 
all the rest would know, that I had come into 
the class without being in the least fit for it, and 
that I ought not to be there at all. It never 
came into my mind that you could think that 
other thing.” There was a sob in her voice as 
she ended, and all this time I thought you un- 
derstood, and were displeased with me for not 
telling you the real truth at the beginning. I do 
think now that I ought ; but won’t you please for- 
give me, and let me go on with the class?” 

Never was a more pleading young face lifted to 
a teacher’s than Sue Orcutt lifted at that moment 
to the principal of Merton Academy. Strange to 
say, Mr. Theophilus Hermon turned his back sud- 
denly upon it, and made a complete circuit of the 
room before he answered her. Twice during the 


136 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


circuit he cleared his voice, and once he blew his 
nose in a portentous manner. When he came 
back to where she stood, he put out his hand, and 
the expression with which he looked down at her 
turned Merton Academy into heaven indeed. 

My dear Miss Orcutt,” he said, and Sue 
thought she had never in her life heard a voice 
as sweet as his, ^^if you had been a teacher, as 
I have, for forty years, you would know how 
much easier it was for me to think ‘ that other 
thing ’ — we will keep your own phrase for it — 
than to guess the truth as you have just disclosed 
it. It is the only apology I can make for the 
extraordinary injustice I have done you. May 
you go on with the class? Well, I think so. I 
will even forgive you for keeping your secret at 
the first, for I should probably have forbidden 
your making the attempt, and that would have 
cost you the victory you have won, and me the 
delight of knowing it. Ah, my dear young lady, 
such happiness as you have given me this evening 
doesn’t come too often in a schoolmaster’s life. It’s 
something to make him love his work the better, 
and feel, as he always ought, that there’s none in 
all God’s world which is better worth the doing.” 


SUE HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. HERMON I 37 

He was silent for a minute, his great face beam- 
ing down at her with a benignity which seemed to 
annihilate all the griefs and troubles of the world. 
Then he said in a lighter tone, But come, I’m 
not going to let you work too hard, for all your 
splendid courage. How would you like to sit 
down and let me read you the whole oration ? 
We could enjoy it together, and I’m not afraid of 
your being hurt by it in the least.” 

She winced involuntarily, and he laughed a quick, 
pleased little laugh. Ah, I see you don’t want 
to lose the pleasure of getting it all out by your- 
self. Well, I should have felt that way too at 
your age. All right ; but don’t fail to let me help 
you, if you find any passage taking too much of 
your time in these first days. It will grow easier 
with every lesson, you may be sure of that.” 

He stood for a minute longer, then added, lift- 
ing his finger as if to impress it on her memory, 
^^And some evening you must come to see me in 
my own house. I want to know all about your 
coming to the Academy, and how it happens that 
you can only stay one term. You and I must 
know each other better.” 

Sue did not dare to speak. A single word 


138 THE ORCUTT GIRLS, 

and her cup of happiness would have spilled 
over in a shower of blissful tears. They walked 
out of the Academy together, and parted at the 
foot of the steps that led down to the street. 
Several times Sue looked back and saw him 
climbing the hill in his slow fashion, his heavy, 
stooping figure a silhouette against the radiant 
moonlight. For her own part, her heart was so 
light that it was positively hard to keep her 
feet on the ground. She wanted to fly, to sing, 
to throw her arms around somebody and shout 
for joy. 

Miss Graham and Bertha were in the room 
when she entered. The lamp was burning at 
full height now, and showed her sister looking 
positively ill with anxiety, and the little dress- 
maker evidently not quite at ease. Sue did not 
wait for either of them to ask a question. 

^^It’s all right,” she cried rapturously, and the 
story followed as fast as her half-breathless state 
would allow. 

knew it would be like that when he under- 
stood,” said Miss Graham, when the girl had 
finished. Didn’t I tell you what sort of a man 
he is?” 


SC/E HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. HERMON I 39 

you didn’t half tell me. Nobody could,” 
replied Sue. I think he’s the kindest man I 
ever saw, the kindest and the grandest ; and his 
face is positively beautiful when he smiles right 
at you. Oh, I never, never was so happy in all 
the days of my life.” 

Miss Graham laughed. She felt that it was 
time , now for her to leave the sisters to them- 
selves, especially as, in another moment, they 
both began to, tell her how grateful they were 
for her coming in. 

^‘Well, I’m rather glad myself that I came,” 
she said lightly, and she could not refrain from 
adding, with a mischievous glance at Sue, It 
isn’t the first time I’ve seen girls in this room 
that needed cheering up. They do get into the 
clutches of Giant Despair now and then, in spite 
of themselves ! ” 

Sue bit her lip for an instant, then she re- 
torted, with a glance as merry as Miss Graham’s 
own, '‘It wasn’t Giant Despair; I haven’t been 
asleep on his grounds. I tell you it was Apollyon 
himself, and he fell upon me when I was march- 
ing along as stoutly as I knew how.” 

The little dressmaker laughed. “Well, which- 


140 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


ever of them ’twas, I hope he won’t pounce on 
you again ; and all the same I’m glad I came in.” 

So am I ! So am I ! ” cried both the girls 
heartily, and Sue added in the reckless joy of 
her heart, Come and take tea with us next 
Saturday evening. I’m to be cook for the week, 
you know, and I shall want to celebrate my 
triumphs.” 


CHAPTER XI. 


SUE TAKES HER TURN AS HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 



’OU needn’t give a thought to the cooking 


this week/’ Sue said to Bertha on the fol- 
lowing Monday. You’ve had a great deal more 
than your share of the work and responsibility so 
far, but it’s my turn to stand at the helm now, and 
we’ll even things up.” 

She was feeling as light-hearted as possible. 
The lesson in Cicero that morning had removed 
the last trace of the late unpleasantness. Mr. 
Hermon had not only called on her to translate 
the first passage, but had treated her with so 
marked a graciousness, that whatever explanation 
the class could find for the change in his attitude, 
it must have been evident to all that she had 
been taken without reserve into his favor and con- 
fidence. She felt that she could enter now upon 
her duties as head of the household without the 
slightest weight upon her spirits, and she was re- 


142 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


solved that her administration should not fall a 
whit below that of her sister. 

It was the general custom among the students 
at Merton to do most of their studying at the 
Academy, but it was always optional with them 
to remain at their rooms between recitations if 
they chose, and Sue was glad that afternoon to 
avail herself of the privilege. She wished to in- 
augurate her reign as cook in a suitable manner, 
and had determined that the dinner that night 
should be something quite out of the ordinary. 
She would have a beefsteak broiled in the toast- 
ing-rack over the coals, some mashed potato beaten 
to a cream, a piece of one of those delicious winter 
squashes whose shells were so hard that they had 
to be broken with a hatchet, and for dessert, — 
at this point Sue felt her ambition soar, — for 
dessert she would have apple pie and cheese ! She 
had never made a pie, but w^hat of that ? There 
must be a first time for everything. 

It dampened her ardor for a moment to find 
that there was no receipt for pastry in her 
mother’s little cook-book, but on reflection she 
decided that the omission, if it indicated anything, 
only showed the making of a pie to be a mere 


SUE AS HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 1 43 

matter of instinct, and with this consoling thought 
she entered boldly upon her task. A pan of 
Rhode Island Greenings was brought from the 
cellar, and the paring and slicing were done in a 
truly artistic manner. It was well to have the 
apple in readiness before making the crust ; she 
was aware of that. As for the crust itself, a 
question as to the amount of flour required gave 
her some perplexity at the very outset, but she 
remembered that good pie crust was always thin, 
and with this fact for a pointer, decided to take 
only a little.” It was probably not far from a 
quart which she sifted into the bottom of the big 
mixing-bowl ! A lump of firm, white lard deftly 
rubbed into it, that was the next thing, she knew, 
and then came the water. She was not sure 
whether it should be hot or cold, and to prevent 
a mistake in either direction, decided to take it 
lukewarm. The quantity of so mild an ingredient 
she presumed did not much matter, and she poured 
in a generous supply. The mixing after this was 
quickly accomplished, but to extricate her hand 
when the operation was finished was not so easy. 
Somehow, the soft, sticky stufi glued all her 
fingers together, and could not be squeezed, or 


144 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


shaken, or wriggled off. Even the assistance of the 
other hand did not much facilitate matters, for what 
she succeeded in getting off of one stuck persist- 
ently to its fellow. However, it was accomplished 
at last by the aid of a knife, which, it is needless 
to say, was daubed to the end of the handle. 

But the true perversity of pie crust had only 
just begun to disclose itself. The way it spread 
over the board, and smeared the rolling-pin when 
she attempted to shape a portion of it into a cir- 
cle could only be accounted for, at first, on the 
theory of the total depravity of inanimate objects. 
But Sue had a philosophic mind, and it presently 
occurred to her that possibly the mixture might 
be a little too soft. If this were the case, the 
addition of flour would certainly remedy it. She 
put it in by the handful, and the amount absorbed 
was truly surprising. Finally, the precious com- 
pound lost its gluey texture. It even assumed a 
consistency resembling india-rubber, and manifested 
a disposition to bound back under the strokes of 
the rolling-pin. This, Sue presumed to be the cor- 
rect thing, but the quantity of pie crust which she 
now had in stock was something appalling. She 
had started out with the modest intention of mak- 


SUE AS HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 


145 


ing a single pie, but when one was produced, it 
appeared, even to her inexperienced eye, that she 
had crust enough left for at least three more. To 
waste it was out of the question, and she consoled 
herself with the thought that it would at least 
simplify cooking for the rest of the week if there 
were plenty of pies on hand. Bertha, she was 
sure, would appreciate her forethought. 

She rushed down stairs for more apples, and 
the paring and slicing were done this time with 
an eye to speed, not artistic effect. By dint of 
effort she contrived to get three more pies onto 
the pans, the labor consisting for the most part 
in rolling out of the crust, as the furnishing of 
the inside had been from the first a comparatively 
simple matter. A generous supply of apple, well 
covered with sugar, and sprinkled with nutmeg, 
this, she was sure was all that was needed. But 
the exasperating thing was the way that pie crust 
held out. After all this, a lump of it, nearly as 
large as the girl’s fist still graced the moulding- 
board. She looked at it with an eye of despair. 
It was almost time for the chapel exercise at 
which all the students were required to be present, 
and there was positively no more time to be spent 


146 the orcutt girls. 

now in the construction of pies. She decided, with 
a groan, to leave it till her return and then shape 
it into a couple of ^ turnovers.” That, at any 
rate, would make an end of it. 

There was barely time to wash her hands and 
bathe her hot, red face, before the chapel bell 
began to ring, and it was only the undignified 
rate at which she hurried through the streets 
which saved her from being tardy. Bertha w^as 
in the room before her, but she did not try to 
secure a place at her side. There were reasons for 
preferring a seat nearer the door, from which she 
could make her exit as soon as possible when the 
exercises were ended. She had left the pantry in 
a frightful state, and it seemed to her that she 
must get things straightened, and those pies into 
the oven before her sister’s return. In their un- 
baked state they certainly were not handsome, but 
there was no telling what the process of cooking 
might do in the way of beautifying. 

Mr. Hermon’s amen had hardly sounded before 
she was out of her seat, and no time was lost on 
the way back to the scene of her labors. The fire, 
which she had forgotten to replenish, was nearly 
out, but she rebuilt it with an amount of kindling 


SUE AS HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 


147 


and dry wood which soon brought it to a roaring 
pass. This took time, however, and in a sudden 
fit of desperation she decided not to make the 
turnovers,’ ' after all. Instead, she flung the 
remainder of the pie crust into the stove. It was 
an act of destruction for which she felt that she 
should be held accountable, but the impulse was 
irresistible. Then she hurried the pies into the 
oven, and applied herself with such energy to the 
pantry that she had succeeded in scraping the rem- 
nants of the pastry from the board onto the floor 
and her apron, before Bertha made her appearance. 

^‘You must have been in a terrible hurry to 
get here,” remarked that young lady, as she en- 
tered the room. You disappeared like a flash 
when the exercises were over.” 

^‘Well, I was in something of a hurry to get 
back,” replied Sue calmly ; I had some baking 
to attend to,” and she trusted that the statement 
would impress Bertha with a suitable sense of her 
zeal as cook. 

Bertha did seem to be somewhat impressed. 
‘^What have you been making?” she asked ea- 
gerly. But at that moment her attention was sud- 
denly attracted to the pan of apple parings which 


148 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


Sue had injudiciously left in full sight on the 
table, and the spectacle seemed fairly to overcome 
her. 

Sue Orcutt ! ” she exclaimed, where on earth 
did you learn to pare apples like that f ” She 
held up one of the skins and added, with a gasp, 
‘^If mother should see the thickness of it!” 

Sue winced. Apple parings half an inch thick 
Were certainly inconsistent with the traditions of 
the Orcutt family. But she had been pressed for 
time, and under the circumstances it did seem 
rather hard that Bertha should call her to account. 
If she would make a point on a little thing like 
that, what would she say to the lump of pie 
crust which had been committed to the flames ? 
The fear that she might somehow discover it 
through the bars of the stove, made Sue turn 
pale, and she fell to poking the fire with a zeal 
which, under the circumstances, seemed really 
superfluous. 

If your pie is in the oven,” said Bertha, di- 
verted from the contemplation of the skins by 
this performance of her sister’s, I don’t think 
I’d stir the fire any more now. The stove is red- 
hot, as it is.” 


SUE AS HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 


149 


Sue laid down the poker. Her immediate fear 
had been relieved by the certainty that the pie 
crust was reduced to a cinder. The state of that 
in the oven had not yet begun to alarm her. 

I think I’ll go and get some water,” she said 
rather coldly, and she left the room, feeling that 
there were times when, with all her excellent 
qualities, Bertha was a little trying. She returned 
a few minutes later, and found that discreet elder 
sister on her knees beside the oven, gazing in at 
the open door with a petrified expression. Sue 
stooped and looked over her shoulder, and any 
hope she had entertained that the atmosphere of 
the oven would improve the appearance of that 
precious quartette of pies, vanished on the instant. 
They were badly burned already, but that was not 
the most striking thing in their appearance. The 
crust had risen on the top of every one of them 
in the most unprecedented manner, and they really 
looked more like four small loaves of bread than 
four good specimens of pastry. 

Why, what makes ’em do like that ? ” cried 
Sue, beginning to feel that the idiosyncrasies of 
pastry were past finding out. Did you ever see 
pies look that way before?” 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


150 

^^Not exactly,” said Bertha dryly. She seemed 
to be struggling with some unusual emotions, and 
it was several seconds before she added, in a tone 
scrupulously polite, Perhaps the reason they puff 
up so is because you didn’t make any holes in the 
upper crust to let out the air. You ought to 
have pricked them, you know, or cut a nice little 
figure in the top, as mother sometimes does.” 

Sue groaned. She remembered now that she 
had seen her mother perforate the crust of pies, 
but she had always supposed it was done simply 
in the way of decoration. She was meditating on 
this unlucky omission of hers, when a new mys- 
tery disclosed itself. Bubbles of juice issued sud- 
denly from the edge of one of the nearer pies, 
and spread themselves, hissing and sputtering, 
over the bottom of the oven. 

Mercy ! ” cried Sue, are they all going to do 
that ? Why, there won’t be any of the goodness 
left in them. What in the world is the matter?” 

Bertha maintained an imperturbable calmness. 
Apparently she was past the point of being sur- 
prised. I have seen pies do that before,” she 
said after a moment, and Sue felt that the ad- 
mission was truly kind. Then she added, But 


SUE AS HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 151 

I should think by the looks of these pies that you 
put more apple into them than you ought, and 
perhaps you forgot to wet the edges of the crust. 
Mother usually does that, to make them stick to- 
gether, when the apples are particularly juicy.” 

Sue sunk helplessly back on the floor. ^^Oh,” 
she groaned, to think there should be so many 
tricks and turns in the making of a pie ! To 
think I’ve eaten ’em all my life and never real- 
ized what a triumph of mind over matter the 
making of even the simplest sort is ! Why, I 
actually thought anybody could do it.” 

^^So you can when you know how,” said Bertha, 
and she could not refrain from adding, I must 
say. Sue, I think you launched in rather boldly 
to make so many at the first venture.” 

I thought while I was making I might as well 
make a plenty,” said Sue rather sulkily. 

Well, but four pies are such a lot for two 
people to eat all by themselves,” persisted Bertha. 

We are not likely to want more than half a 
one at a meal, and at that rate they’ll last more 
than a week if we have them for dinner every 
day.” 

^^We often had ’em three times a day at home,” 


152 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


said Sue doggedly ; I don’t see why you’ve taken 
such a spite against pies, all of a sudden.” 

If she had not added the last remark, Bertha 
might have spared her; but this was too much. 

I should think you would know,” she retorted, 
pointing at the four monstrosities in the oven. 
‘‘We never had such pies as those at home three 
times a day.” 

She had grave doubts whether they could ever 
eat one of them, and she felt that the occasion 
demanded plain speaking. It was only the begin- 
ning of the week, and if Sue was going to do 
cooking of this sort, and on such a scale, the waste 
of good material would be frightful. 

“Really, Sue,” she went on impressively, “I 
think we ought to be careful how we go into 
things before we’ve had experience. If they don’t 
come out right, there's just so much money wasted, 
and we can’t afford that.” 

“Oh, I know it, I know it,” said Sue, reduced 
at once by this form of argument. “And to tell 
the honest truth, I had no idea of making more 
than one when I began, but the crust held out so 
like the widow’s cruse of oil that I just had to 
keep on for the sake of using it up.” 


SUE AS HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 


153 


She peered over Bertha’s shoulder again, as she 
spoke, and the expression of those pies, all swollen 
and sputtering, was so irresistibly funny that she 
burst into a hysterical giggle ; and Bertha, though 
she felt that it was ill-timed mirth, could not, 
after a moment, refrain from joining her. 

Oh, do shut up the oven door,” Sue gasped 
at last. It’s perfectly killing, the way they look. 
I know I ought to be shedding tears of repentance 
for having produced such monstrosities, but laugh- 
ing is the next thing to crying, you know, and 
this is positively the best I can do. I only hope 
they’ll taste good. ^ Handsome is that handsome 
does,’ they say, and I suppose we could eat them 
with our eyes shut.” 

Bertha would really have liked to offer her sister 
some encouragement along this line, but imagina- 
tion was not her strong point, and she could not 
conceive of pastry which looked like that in the 
oven, offering any great delectation to the inner 
man. 

Well, of course ^ the proof of the pudding is 
in the eating,’ ” she said cautiously, and with this 
guarded statement she closed the oven door and 
left the pies to complete their baking. 


154 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


Her forebodings in regard to their inward qual- 
ity proved, in the end, to be only too well founded. 
The ciust was so tough that it was impossible to 
dissect it without the resolute use of both knife 
and fork. It was discovered, too, that Sue had 
omitted to put in any salt, and the cutting of the 
second pie (which, as it happened, was the last 
one made) disclosed that in this the sugar was 
forgotten as well. Bertha ate a piece heroically, 
softening the crust with the aid of the cream 
pitcher, and adding the needed seasoning; but at 
this point Sue’s soul revolted, and the first time 
she was alone in the room, she committed the 
remainder of the unlucky pastry to the fire. It 
was dreadful to burn up so much good material, 
she admitted humbly to Bertha after it was done, 
but she really thought the wear and tear of the 
human constitution in absorbing it ought to be 
taken into account, and, on the whole, the de- 
struction of the pies was the lesser evil. 

Her culinary ardor was considerably cooled by 
this first venture, and for the rest of the week 
Bertha had no reason to accuse her of immoderate 
zeal in providing delicacies for the table. 

Indeed, the bill of fare speedily dropped down 


SUE AS HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 


155 


to the two or three things which were easiest to 
prepare, and even these would not always have 
reached the table in a palatable condition, had it 
not been for the watchful care which Bertha pri- 
vately exercised over their baking and boiling. 


CHAPTER XII. 


THE HOUSEKEEPER MAKES AN IMPORTANT PURCHASE. 

SUPPOSE you remember, Sue,” said her dis- 



Greet elder sister, as they sat at breakfast, 
on the Saturday morning of that interesting week, 
that you invited Miss Graham to supper this 
evening.” 

Sue started. ^^I declare I had forgotten it,” 
she said, but it’s a fact, I did ask her. I re- 
member, now you speak of it.” 

^^And, of course,” pursued Bertha, ^^we ought 
to have something out of the ordinary. People 
always expect that when they’re invited out to a 
meal.” 

She did not remind Sue that the little dress- 
maker had been bidden to the feast for the express 
purpose of celebrating her culinary triumphs, but 
the flush which rose suddenly in her sister’s face 
suggested that her own memory had supplied the 
fact. 


THE HOUSEKEEPER MAKES A PURCHASE. 157 

“Of course, of course/’ she said hastily. She 
had looked rather alarmed for the first few sec- 
onds, but it was characteristic of Sue that a real 
emergency always brought a swift revival of her 
courage. She took a large swallow of her crust 
coffee, and stiffened herself resolutely. “I’ll de- 
vote myself to cooking this morning and see if I 
can’t redeem my reputation,” she said. “ Really, 
Saturday is the only time when one has a fair 
show.” 

Bertha breathed an inaudible sigh. She had 
really thought of proposing to take her sister’s 
place in the pantry, but clearly it would not do. 
Sue would probably consider it the unkindest cut 
of all. 

“ Well, I hope you’ll get along all right,” she 
said rather anxiously. 

“ Oh, I’ll give my mind to it in good earnest, 
and you’ll see what I can do,” said Sue cheer- 
fully. “ Of course I made an awful business of 
those pies” (she could own up as handsomely as 
anybody when it came to that), “ but I was work- 
ing without a receipt, and everything went against 
me. I’ll go by the book this time, and things’ll 
come out different. You see if they don’t.” 


158 THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 

She was not above taking advice, and the con- 
sultation into which she entered at once as to 
the kind of cake she had better make — for cake 
there must be, of course — had a reassuring effect 
on Bertha’s spirits. A Fairy Loaf,” for which 
their mother’s directions were full and explicit, 
was selected, and the four eggs for which it 
called were not grudged even by Bertha in the 
interest of company. 

In the making of the salt rising bread, too. Sue 
showed her wisdom by asking assistance of her 
sister. If she had only requested that young lady 
to take the spoon into her own hand, and actually 
mix the sponge for that baffling product, which 
is really the despair of many excellent housewives, 
she would have been wiser still. It was prepared 
exactly by directions, but for some inscrutable 
reason — Bertha herself could not explain it — it 
did not act in the least as it did the Saturday 
before. The fine, white bubbles which should have 
risen to the surface till the whole was a light, 
foaming mass, failed to disclose themselves. Noth- 
ing rose but a watery fluid, which spread itself in a 
melancholy manner over the top, while the mixture 
itself assumed a yellow and jaundiced appearance, 


THE HOUSEKEEPER MAKES A PURCHASE. 


159 


which stood sullenly in the bowl at just the 
original mark. 

Fortunately for Sue, she did not know for some 
hours that her bread was doomed to hopeless failure, 
and she occupied herself briskly meanwhile in the 
making of the cake. Never were ingredients put 
together with more scrupulous care. Never was 
cook more unsparing of labor in beating them all 
to an exquisite lightness. At one point only did 
her mother’s directions fail of the most definite 
instruction : “ Lastly, three cups of flour, or if 

necessary, a little more!' The last clause raised 
a question, and Sue was too intent on producing 
a cake of the most perfect quality to willingly 
act under the slightest doubt. Bertha was in the 
laundry, but even she was hardly to be considered 
authority on so nice a point, and Sue decided to 
appeal to Mrs. Porter, who was probably busy at 
this very hour with her own Saturday baking. 

Poor Sue ! it was the very irony of fate which 
sent her down stairs just then. Mrs. Porter was 
not in her kitchen, but the cooking materials on 
the table seemed to indicate that she was not far 
away. Sue decided to wait a little, and while she 
waited there came a knock at the door. To open 


i6o 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


the door in response was a prompt and natural 
impulse. A stylish young man, with a rather 
handsome and remarkably ingenuous countenance, 
stood at the threshold. 

Is Mrs. Porter in ? ” he asked, quite with the 
air of an old acquaintance, lifting his hat grace- 
fully as he spoke. 

^^No,” said Sue, ‘^but I presume she will be 
very soon. I’m waiting for her myself.” She 
hesitated a moment, and added, Won’t you 
come in ? ” 

Well, I don’t know but I will, just for a few 
moments,” said the young man. ^^I should be 
sorry to miss seeing her, and for that matter,” 
he added, with a beaming smile, she’d be sorry 
to miss seeing me.” 

A friend of the family,” thought Sue, and she 
made haste to suggest that perhaps he would step 
into the parlor. 

^^Oh, let me have a seat right here,” said the 
young man affably ; I’m always glad of the 
chance to sit down in a good, old-fashioned kitchen ; 
it makes me feel at home. I guess you’re one of 
the Academy girls,” he continued, apparently feel- 
ing it incumbent upon him to engage in conver- 


THE HOUSEKEEPER MAKES A PURCHASE. i6l 


sation; and as Sue assented, he added cordially, 

W ell, I used to be a student here myself. Nice 
old place. Never saw a place I liked better, nor 
a nicer set of folks. That’s the reason I’m here 
now, though it’s a little out of my beat, and some- 
thing of a sacrifice in a pecuniary way, — I may 
as well own that. You see my business is of a 
kind that I can naturally make more money at in 
the cities, but I feel such an interest in this place, 
specially the students, that I felt as if I must put 
in one day here, if I couldn’t any more.” 

A light dawned suddenly upon Sue’s mind. 
Probably this self-sacrificing individual was a book 
agent. Even with her small knowledge of the 
world, she thought she detected signs which 
marked him as belonging to that class. 

He seemed to have guessed her thought, for he 
said instantly, with a pleasant laugh, Oh, ’tisn’t 
books ! I wouldn’t waste my time that way, 
specially in a place where there’s such a library 
as there is at Merton. Fact is, the best books 
are all old, and if folks don’t know what to read, 
why, it’s their own fault, and there’s no use in 
other folks going round to tell ’em.” 

It struck Sue that this sentiment was not alto- 


i 62 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


gether bad. he continued emphatically, 

I’ve got more important business on my hands 
than that. It’s this new invention of Edison’s, 
this discovery of his for preventing the consump- 
tion of oil in lamps. You’ve heard of it of course.” 

^^No, I don’t think I have,” said Sue, searching 
her memory. 

You haven’t ! ” exclaimed the young man, who 
apparently found the statement almost too much for 
his credulity ; why, it’s been in all the papers ! I 
guess you haven’t been reading ’em much lately.” 

Sue admitted the fact, adding apologetically 
that she had been too busy with her studies. 

^^Well, that explains it,” said the young man. 
^^And yet,” he added after a moment, evidently 
revolving the fact still in some bewilderment, ^^it’s 
queer you haven’t heard Mr. Hermon speak of it. 
They say he’s making such a fad of chemistry 
lately. But then he’s getting old, and I suppose 
he misses something now and then. I’m awfully 
sorry though, for I supposed he would have ex- 
plained it all from a scientific standpoint, and I 
should have nothing to do but introduce it. It’s 
undoubtedly the greatest discovery of the age, and 
so uncommonly handy for students.” 




SUE MAKES A PURCHASE 



THE HOUSEKEEPER MAKES A PURCHASE. 163 

He really seemed quite cast down over Mr. 
Hermon’s unaccountable omission, and Sue, whose 
curiosity was by this time considerably piqued, 
could not refrain from saying, I don’t under- 
stand, I’m sure; what is it?” 

Don’t you?” said the young man, arousing 
himself from his dejection with an apparent effort; 
^^well. I’ll show you. It’s the simplest thing in 
the world, so simple that all the scientific men 
are kicking themselves for not having thought of 
it years ago.” 

He thrust his hand into his pocket as he spoke, 
and drew out a small package, which, on being 
opened, disclosed a dozen lampwicks, which, except 
for a slight reddish color, presented nothing un- 
usual in their appearance. 

^^Look just like common ones, don’t they?” he 
said, smiling at Sue in his most ingenuous manner. 

Sue admitted that she could see no radical dif- 
ference. 

^^I thought you’d say so,” exclaimed the young 
man delightedly. You wouldn’t know ’em from 
the old-fashioned’ kind. But I tell you there’s a 
big difference when you come to use ’em.” 

How ? ” queried Sue, getting really excited. 


164 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


^^How?” repeated the young man impressively. 
^^Well, I’ll tell you. If you should put one of 
these wicks into a lampful of oil, you could 
burn that oil for ten days without having to 
replenish it.” 

Sue looked incredulous, and he reiterated, 
lampful of oil, with this kind of a wick, will 
burn four times — yes, more than four times — as 
long as it will with the ordinary sort.” 

But what makes it ? ” demanded Sue ; “ I don’t 
see why the kind of wick you use should make 
any difference.” 

Ah,” said the young man, smiling in a rapt- 
urous manner, there’s where the great discovery 
comes in. This wick” — he lifted one of them, 
and his manner grew solemn — has been treated 
with chemicals in such a way that it acts upon 
the essential properties of the oil, and prevents it 
from being consumed in the burning.” 

Sue thought of Moses and the burning bush. 
That, she remembered, had burned without being 
consumed. Still, it had always been counted a 
miracle, and it was generally conceded that the 
day of miracles was past. 

^‘1 don’t see how it’s possible,” she said firmly. 


THE HOUSEKEEPER MAKES A PURCHASE. 165 

^^Does the lamp give as much light as it does the 
other way ? ” 

‘^Just exactly/’ said the young man fervently, 
or if anything, a little more. I don’t know as I 
can make the scientific reason quite clear ‘to you” 
— he paused, and knit his forehead for a moment, 
as if in an attempt to find language which would 
be equally lucid and simple, then exclaimed with 
animation, Have you studied chemistry, and do 
you understand all about oxygen, and the chloric 
action of the bisulphide of nitrogen?” 

No,” said Sue regretfully ; I haven’t got as 
far as that yet.” 

Well,” said the young man in a tone which 
was equally regretful, ^Hhen I don’t know as it’s 
really worth while for me to try to explain it to 
you. But facts are facts, and there’s no getting 
round ’em. You can see for yourself what an im- 
portant discovery it is, and what ’twould be worth 
to you to have one of these wicks in your lamp.” 

It certainly was obvious that a wick which 
would perform the marvel the young man had indh 
cated would meet a long-felt want. The consump- 
tion of oil was no inconsiderable item in the girls’ 
household expense, and besides, if there was one 


1 66 the orcutt girls. 

part of the work which Sue hated with a deadly 
hatred, it was filling lamps and trimming wicks. 
Her face probably expressed her train of thought, 
for the young man said responsively : 

“ Don’t I know how ’tis ? Why, I was a student 
here myself in the old days, boarded myself too, 
and the lamp was the meanest thing in the whole 
business. You see I was one of the kind that 
would get my lessons, if it took the midnight oil to 
do it, and midnight oil counts up. That is, it does 
with the old kind of a wick ; but with this sort 
you could study all night, if you wanted to, and 
the lamp would scarcely show the next morning 
that it had been lighted at all. I tell you it’s a 
wonderful discovery. Nothing like it since the 
invention of the telegraph, and for ^ human nature’s 
daily food’ it beats that all hollow.” 

Under ordinary circumstances it might have 
occurred to Sue that the young man’s figure was 
not altogether felicitous, but she scarcely noticed 
it now. She was inwardly debating whether she 
had not better purchase one of these invaluable 
wicks at once. 

^^What is the price?” she asked, taking up one 
of them and looking at it fondly. 


THE HOUSEKEEPER MAKES A PURCHASE. 167 

Fifty cents,” said the young man promptly. 
^^The usual price is a dollar, but I said to myself 
when I came to Merton, that I’d sell ’em to the 
students at half price, just for the sake of old times, 
if it broke me all up to do it.” 

Sue’s face had lengthened. Fifty cents is an 
awful price to pay for a lamp wick,” she said 
gravely. The common ones only cost a cent 
apiece.” 

^‘1 know it,” said the young man, ^^but how 
many of ’em do you use in the course of a term, 
and how would fifty cents sound as the price of 
your winter’s supply of kerosene ? Just look at 
it that way, and then tell me if fifty cents is 
high.” 

This really seemed a fair way of putting it. 
Sue’s fingers tightened upon the wick, and her ex- 
pression grew resolute. It was her prerogative as 
housekeeper to make purchase of anything she 
thought necessary for the household during this 
week, and the opportunity seemed really providen- 
tial. She considered for a moment whether she 
had not better call Bertha into counsel, but on 
second thought decided to keep the matter a secret, 
and surprise her sister the next morning with the 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


1 68 

sight of a lamp whose oil had not wasted in the 
course of an evening’s use. 

I’ll take one,” she said decidedly. 

I knew you would,” said the young man ; and 
he added jocosely, You think they come high, but 
you must have one.” 

No,” said Sue, lifting her eyes to his in the 
most candid manner, ^^on the whole I don’t think 
they do come high. Taking everything into ac- 
count, I think they’re very cheap indeed.” 

Well, that’s the right way to look at it,” said 
the young man heartily, but one can always rely on 
good sense among the students at Merton Academy.” 

Sue was deeply gratified, but she only revealed 
it by a little added dignity of manner as she left 
the room in quest of her purse. 

When she came back a minute or two later, 
the young man was standing by the window, beat- 
ing a tattoo on the pane. On the whole,” he 
said, I guess I won’t wait for Mrs. Porter. Fact 
is, I’m in an awful hurry, can’t spend but one 
day here, and I guess I’ll go right up to Mr. 
Hermon and get him to put it down in black 
and white about the chemical part. ’T would save 
lots of time in explanation.” 


THE HOUSEKEEPER MAKES A PURCHASE. 169 

‘•Well, I think that’s a real good plan,” said 
Sue cordially. “ People do like to understand a 
thing before they buy it.” 

“ Of course,” said the young man ; and then he 
added lightly, “but for that matter, you’ll feel as 
if you understood it all right when once you’ve 
seen it work.” 

He smiled one of his brilliant smiles, as he 
dropped her half-dollar into his pocket, then 
remarked, “ By the way, if you’d just as lief, I 
hope you won’t say anything to Mrs. Porter about 
the price you paid. It’s a special, you know, to 
students.” 

Sue did not feel called upon to make any 
promises, but it should be remarked, in passing, 
that she did not, after that day, feel the least 
inclination to reveal the secret. 

When he had gone, she decided that she, too, 
would not wait for Mrs. Porter. Probably she 
had “run in” to one of the neighbors’ houses, 
and might not be back for some time. The 
invaluable purchase she had just made had raised 
her spirits, and she decided to trust to her own 
judgment in the matter of the cake. She be- 
thought herself that one could always bake a 


170 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


little of the dough as a trial loaf^ and that her 
mother had put a tiny dish into their outfit for 
that special purpose. 

She used it on her return to the upper room, 
and the result was so satisfactory that she en- 
trusted the larger loaf to the oven without 
anxiety. Then she applied herself to adjusting 
the new wick in its appropriate place. Bertha 
had cleaned the lamp that morning with special 
care, and it was disagreeable business pulling out 
the long, well-saturated wick and coaxing the 
new one into its place. She consoled herself, 
however, with the thought that this kind of 
work would not have to be done again for a 
long, long while, and the same thought sustained 
her while she scrubbed and re-scrubbed her hands 
in the effort to destroy the odious smell which 
her labors had left. 

It was well that the operation did not absorb 
any more of her time than it did, for the cake 
was much in need of attention when she opened 
the oven door. The edges were already a little 
too brown, and the centre had risen in a vol- 
canic manner. However, the watchful care which 
she bestowed on it during the rest of its baking. 


THE HOUSEKEEPER MAKES A PURCHASE. 171 

prevented any real disaster, and it was removed 
from the oven at last looking fairly well. 

By this time it was clear, even to Sue, that 
the bread was a failure. She was stirring the 
sponge mournfully when Bertha returned from her 
work in the laundry, and this time the latter 
was truly sympathetic. 

Never mind. Sue,” she said, after expressing 
her utter inability to see why it should behave 
so ; we can get along without it for to-night. 
We can have some cream-tartar biscuits. I’ll 
make them, if you want me to,” — she offered 
the suggestion very gently, — and they’re always 
nice for company. Really, I don’t think we need to 
worry about the supper. I’m sure the cake is nice, 
and we can have some of mother’s quince preserve, 
and sweet pickles, and some chipped beef if you like. 
Besides,” she added, with true housewifely instinct, 
we’ll put on the best table-cloth and that little 
fringed mat that always looks so pretty.” 

Sue’s spirits rose at once. They were of an 
elastic sort, and the rebound was not difficult. 
Still she could not refrain from a sigh, as she 
looked at the refractory sponge which was never 
to develop into wholesome bread. 


172 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


it wasn’t for wasting all that flour in addi- 
tion to what I squandered on the pies!” she said 
remorsefully. And then she thought of the lamp 
wick and was comforted. That, at least, was 
something in the line of true economy, and she 
felt that its purchase would remain forever as a 
bright spot in the week’s experience. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


SUE CELEBRATES HER TRIUMPHS, AND THE LITTLE 
DRESSMAKER GIVES HER FRIENDS SOME GOOD 
ADVICE. 

ny yTISS GRAHAM came early to supper that 
night. She had paid her hostesses the 
compliment of changing her ordinary dress for a 
soft black silk, a little shiny, but distinctly gen- 
teel, in which, with a cherry ribbon at her throat, 
she looked fairly young and pretty. 

^^You didn’t set the time for tea, when you 
asked me to come,” she said, with one of her 
bright little nods at Sue, ^^but I thought I’d be on 
the safe side. I believe it’s considered a high 
crime and misdemeanor for an invited guest to 
arrive at anybody’s table late. I heard a lady 
scolding the other day about somebody who had 
spoiled her whole dinner by coming a quarter of 
an hour behind time, and I think she intended to 
scratch his name off her list. I didn’t want that 
to happen to mine, you may be sure.” 

173 


174 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


She had taken her old place, in the rocker 
before the fire, and she smiled a little, observing 
that it was Sue who drew a chair to her side, 
and Bertha who flitted about adding the final 
touches to the table. 

I hope the Latin has gone all right this 
week,” she continued, and that you’ve had no 
more bouts with that particular adversary of 
yours.” 

Sue laughed. Oh dear, no. Everything 
moves as smoothly as possible now. Mr. Hermon 
calls on me to recite every day and seems to 

rely on me for the most knotty passages. I’m 

only afraid he has too high an opinion of my 
abilities.” 

Miss Graham nodded. That’s the penalty for 
getting the first lesson the way you did. It’s 

dangerous to make a record of that sort unless 
you’re prepared to live up to it.” 

Well, unless something happens to me that I 
don’t know of now, I guess I can,” said Sue 

rather proudly. And then she added, I wouldn’t 
disappoint Mr. Hermon when he looks at me the 
way he does, for anything in the world. It’s 
worth everything to feel that he counts on me so.” 


SUE CELEBRATES HER TRIUMPHS. 


175 


Her eyes shone, and there was a tender little thrill 
in her voice as she said it. Somehow Miss Graham 
had come so close to that old trouble of hers that it 
was easy to take her into her happiness now. 

The supper was ready, and Bertha interrupted 
the tete-a-tete at this point by inviting their 
guest to the table, with a courtesy which had a 
pretty little touch of dignity in it, and quite 
suggested the lady to the manner born. She had 
been right in saying that there was no need of 
worrying over the meal. Everything looked 
as dainty as possible. The biscuits would have 
tempted the veriest epicure ; the dried beef — a 
product of the farm on which the deacon espe- 
cially prided himself — was shaved to the most 
exquisite thinness ; the cake was white and deli- 
cate, and the dishes of preserve, clear as amber, 
which were set by each plate, gave the finishing 
touch to the simple little feast. 

Oh, how good everything looks ! ” said Miss 
Graham, ^^and how good everything isT' she 
added a little later, when she had sipped her tea 
(they had bought five cents’ worth of Oolong for 
the occasion) and eaten one of the delicious 
biscuits. ‘‘ I’m sure I never tasted better biscuits 


176 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


than these ; ” and she added, glancing at Sue, 
There’s no need of asking how you succeeded as 
cook after such a demonstration.” 

Sue flushed a little, and Bertha began to say 
something on a different topic, but she was not 
allowed to finish. Sue had no notion of appro- 
priating a compliment which did not belong to 
her. I think myself the biscuits are tre- 
mendously good,” she said, helping herself to a 
second, ^^but I didn’t make them. I started to 
make some salt rising bread, but concluded to 
stop with the yeast. It was Bertha who pro- 
duced these, and you can make your bow to her, 
if you please.” 

Somehow the little dressmaker did not look 
very much surprised. Bertha glanced reprovingly 
at her sister, and then added quickly, But Sue 
made the cake. It’s a great deal harder to make 
cake than biscuits.” 

I don’t know about that,” said Miss Graham ; 
^^I’ve tried my hand at both in my time, and if 
I remember correctly I never made a very 
brilliant success of either. But tell me how 
you’ve gotten along through the week,” she 
added, turning a merry look on Sue. ^^I want 


SUE CELEBRATES HER TRIUMPHS. 


177 


to hear all about your experiences. I suppose 
you’ve made pies and that sort of thing.” 

The girls exchanged glances across the table. 
It had been no part of Sue’s intention to reveal 
the story of those pies. She had extorted a prom- 
ise from Bertha that she would never divulge it, 
even in the bosom of the family, but the little 
dressmaker’s intuitions were alarmingly clever, 
and the twinkle in her eyes was somehow irresist- 
ible. Sue encountered it, and her purpose of 
keeping eternal silence suddenly melted. 

^^It’s no use, Bertha,” she said; may as well 
own up right here and now. Somehow, I feel in 
my bones that Miss Graham will discover it if I 
don’t, and anyhow ^an honest confession is good 
for the soul.’ ” 

She launched into the story in her liveliest 
style, omitting nothing, not even the lump of pie 
crust which had been consigned to the flames, and 
Miss Graham laughed until she choked, Bertha 
joining now and then, and Sue herself adding the 
final explosion as she tried to describe the out- 
ward aspect and the true inwardness of those 
remarkable pies. 

“I only wish you’d kept one of them for this 

N 


178 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


occasion/’ said Miss Graham when the tale was 
finished; really don’t think ’twas treating me 
quite fairly that you didn’t.” 

But Sue shook her head decidedly. You 
needn’t hold any grudge against me on that 
score,” she said. You can laugh over those pies a 
good deal more comfortably than you could if you 
were trying to masticate a piece of one of them. 
No, there was no help for it ; I had to make a burnt 
offering of them all to propitiate my evil genius.” 

She breathed a little sigh, thinking for the fif- 
tieth time of all that waste of good material.” 
Then she remembered the lamp wick, which she 
had quite forgotten in the enjoyment of her chat- 
ting with Miss Graham, and her glance turned 
instinctively towards the lamp. 

Did her eyes deceive her? The oil which had 
filled it to the socket a half an hour ago stood a 
full inch lower in the large glass globe. She 
checked herself in the exclamation which almost 
passed her lips, but there was no checking the 
look which leaped suddenly into her eyes. The ex- 
pression of Macbeth when he saw the ghost of Banquo 
could hardly have been more full of consternation. 

^‘What’s the matter?” cried Bertha in astonish- 


SUE CELEBRATES HER TRIUMPHS, 


179 


ment; and Miss Graham added, “I hope your evil 
genius hasn’t risen of a sudden and refused to 
accept the sacrifice.” 

^^Upon my word, I believe it has,” gasped Sue. 
She gulped down her cup of tea in the effort to 
hide her confusion, but the eyes of Miss Graham 
and her sister were upon her when she set down 
the cup. She tried to escape them, and her own 
wandered with helpless fascination back to the oil 
in that lamp. There was no mistaking the fact. 
The oil was being consumed in exactly the same 
manner as before the introduction of that marvel- 
lous wick. The certainty that she had been the 
victim of a bare-faced swindle, and the desire to 
keep the abominable fact a secret, rushed upon 
her at the same instant, and she pulled herself 
suddenly together in the effort to appear calm. 

But it was too late. Bertha’s eyes were upon 
the lamp now, and her expression had become 
curious. I wonder what makes that wick so red! ” 
she exclaimed. never saw one look that way 

before.” 

She turned to Sue as she spoke, and the face 
of the latter suddenly became a number of shades 
redder than the wick. Perhaps — it’s — the — 


i8o 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


kind,” she faltered helplessly ; I put in a new one 
this morning.” 

She could not have exposed her secret more 
fatally. You put in a new one ! ” ejaculated 
Bertha. Why, I put in one myself. Sue Orcutt, 
what in the world is the meaning of this, and 
what makes you look so strangely ? ” 

There was no help for it now, and Sue was 
forced a second time to become the reporter of her 
own blundering fortunes. But this was no merry 
recital. She had not gotten far enough away 
from the experience yet to see anything funny in 
it, and tears of vexation stood in her eyes, as she 
recounted the way in which the young man of 
the ingenuous countenance had imposed upon her 
credulity. She had forgotten the chemical terms 
by which he had attempted to throw light on the 
wonderful invention, but it all seemed a fraud pal- 
pable enough in the presence of that lamp with 
its steadily diminishing oil. 

^^Sue Orcutt,” said Bertha solemnly, when the 
recital was ended, did you actually pay fifty 
cents for that thing ? ” And the expression of 
her forefinger, as she extended it towards the 
lamp, was somehow awful. 


SUE CELEBRATES HER TRIUMPHS. i8l 

Sue hung her head. It certainly did seem in- 
credible ; but as the young man himself had said, 
facts were facts, and there was no getting round 
them. 

Bertha,’' she said, in a tone of the most ab- 
ject contrition, did. Oh wretched girl that I 
am! It was a big, round half-dollar that I put 
into that villain’s pocket ! ” 

A giggle from Miss Graham was all that saved 
the situation at this moment from becoming tragic. 
It gurgled irrepressibly across the stillness, and 
even in the depths of her humiliation Sue saw 
the affair in a pale gleam of humor. But not 
Bertha. She had reached the point where she 
could smile at the destruction of good material in 
the shape of apple pies, but this throwing away 
of actual cash was too much for her endurance. 

It is past my comprehension,” she began 
slowly, and the words dropped with telling effect, 
‘^how any human being — ” 

She paused, and Sue put in meekly, ^^who had 
an atom of common sense.” 

Who reasoned on the subject the least bit in 
the world,” pursued Bertha firmly, could have 
been deluded into believing one word that fellow 


i 82 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS, 


said. Why, it was the most ridiculous humbug on 
the very face of it, and I should think you would 
have seen through it in an instant.” 

Sue felt that this was really going a little too 
far. She had been a fool of course, and had im- 
poverished the family purse in a frightful manner, 
but she was not prepared to admit that the snare into 
which she had fallen was of quite so open a sort. 

Oh, it’s easy enough to see through it now, 
when the whole thing is exposed,” she said, rally- 
ing to her own defence ; but if you had heard 
that fellow talk and seen the way he looked, it 
would have been slightly different. Besides, the 
most wonderful things are always being invented. 
How could I know that it was impossible for a 
wick to be treated with chemicals in such a way 
as to prevent the oil from wasting ? I really 
don’t see as it would be any more astonishing 
than some things that have heen invented.” 

I should think,” said Bertha with withering 
sarcasm, that the person who had ingenuity 
enough for that would go a little farther, and dis- 
cover some way of utilizing air instead of oil in 
lamps. I don’t see any excuse for his stopping 
with a mean little wick.” 


SUE CELEBRATES HER TRIUMPHS. 183 

Sue felt the sarcasm. ^^Well, I don’t pretend 
to have a scientific mind/’ she said humbly, and 
perhaps there really are some things too strange 
to happen. But when it comes to that, I must 
say it seemed to me more incredible that a per- 
son would go around, telling such lies, right out 
of whole cloth, than that somebody had invented 
that beautiful kind of a wick. It certainly would 
have met a long-felt want. Oh dear,” she added, 
turning to Miss Graham with a profound sigh, 
^^do you suppose anybody else was fool enough to 
buy one ? ” 

^^Lots of them, my dear,” said Miss Graham 
cheerfully, ^^and people whose heads have been 
on their shoulders longer than yours. Really, I 
wouldn’t feel so bad about it. We all get hum- 
bugged now and then. It’s only a question of the 
kind of hoax that appeals to us. I don’t think I 
should have been persuaded into buying one of 
those wicks ” (her mouth twitched a little as she 
said it), ^^but I’ve done things just as foolish, and 
that cost me a good deal more. You’ll have to 
set it down as so much paid for experience, and 
make the best of it.” 

Sue groaned. ^^Well, I suppose experience is 


184 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


a good thing to have, at least some kinds, but I 
wish it didn’t come so awfully dear. It breaks 
you all up paying for it, and other folks too, 
that’s the worst of it,” she added with a melan- 
choly glance at Bertha. 

Bertha was nothing if not forgiving. Her ex- 
pression lost its severity, but it was still pro- 
foundly gloomy, and Sue’s remorse grew even 
deeper. 

I’ve made a perfect failure of managing things 
this week,” she went on, and I believe ’t would 
give mother the nightmare to know all I’ve 
wasted. Well, it’s no use crying over spilt milk; 
I only hope I shan’t have such luck next time. 
I’ll try my humble best ; that’s one thing certain.” 

Miss Graham sipped her tea for a minute in 
silence, then she set down her cup and looked at 
her young friends with an unusual seriousness. 

Girls,” she said, what makes you divide up the 
work this way ? Why don’t you each take the 
part you can do best and stick to it ? ” 

Why, one part is harder than the other,” 
exclaimed Sue quickly. ^^It wouldn’t be fair to 
let Bertha carry the heavy end of the load all the 
time.” 


SUE CELEBRATES HER TRIUMPHS. 185 

‘^Perhaps managing things^ and doing the cook- 
ing, wouldn’t be the heavy end for her,” said Miss 
Graham. I’ll venture to say this week has been 
harder for her than last.” 

The quick dropping of Bertha’s eyelids revealed 
plainly enough that the clever little dressmaker 
had come very near the truth. It’s the post of 
honor, to manage things of course,” she pursued 
resolutely, ‘^and if Bertha should tell the real 
honest truth, I believe that’s the only reason why 
she doesn’t propose to keep it all the time, instead 
of taking turn about with you.” 

Sue bit her lip, and her cheeks burned hotly. 

You think because I made a failure this week 
that I always should,” she said, with a quiver of 
hurt feeling in her voice. I know I’ve done as 
badly as possible, but I always thought if people 
didn’t succeed the first time in what they under- 
took, they ought to keep on trying till they did. 
I suppose you would have advised me to give up 
that Cicero lesson, when, at the end of the first 
few hours, I couldn’t mak^ anything out of it.” 

Oh no, you don’t, my dear,” said Miss Graham, 
so gently that Sue felt instantly ashamed. She 
waited a moment, then went on with the same 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


1 86 

resolute cheerfulness of tone, I wish you girls 
would look at this thing in just a plain, common- 
sense way. Why, some people are good at one 
thing and some another, and I do believe that 
half the trouble in this world comes from people 
trying to do things that they are not fitted for 
at all.” 

But how do we know what we can do, till we 
try ? ” interrupted Sue. How did I know, for 
instance, that I could get that lesson ? It was 
just hard work and keeping at it that carried me 
through.” 

Miss Graham smiled. “ Do you feel, about doing 
the cooking, the way you felt about learning that 
lesson ? ” she asked quietly. 

Sue hesitated, but only for a moment, and there 
was the gleam of a sudden illumination in her 
face as she answered with quick impulsiveness, 

No, I don’t. I cared more about getting that 
lesson than for anything else in this world. And 
I want to do the cooking, because — well, I guess 
it’s pride — I hate to own up that I can’t.” 

Exactly ! ” cried the little dressmaker, with a 
glow in her eyes ; you see the difference. I tell 
you we can get light enough on what we’re really 


SUE CELEBRATES HER TRIUMPHS. 187 

fit for, out of our own honest feeling, if we will. 
Depend upon it, the work we care most for is 
the work we can do best. I don’t say you couldn’t 
do the cooking, — I believe you could, if you set 
yourself to it in downright earnest, — but would it 
pay you to make the struggle ? Here’s Bertha, 
with every instinct of a born housekeeper, and 
here are you with scarcely a bit. Why, you can’t 
turn a pancake without turning a phrase of your 
Latin at the same time, or stir up a Johnny-cake 
without stirring some ideas along with it that will 
maybe work into your next essay.” 

Sue stared. It was amazing how much the 
little dressmaker knew. She was on the point 
of saying so, but Miss Graham had not finished, 
and the words were warm on her lips. 

Don’t think I’m saying that we should never 
do the thing we don’t like. Sometimes we have 
to do it. Duty steps in now and then, and sets 
us some piece of work, — the very last one we 
wanted, perhaps, — in such a plain, unmistakable 
way, that we should be mean-spirited shirks if we 
turned away and left it. When that sort of an 
emergency comes, face it, I say, and do your honest 
best. But never do work that goes against the 


1 88 THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 

grain when you can as conscientiously do some- 
thing else. It doesn’t pay you or anybody else.” 

There was a bright little spot burning in each 
cheek, and her eyes seemed doubly black in the 
earnestness with which she had spoken. There 
was a minute’s silence, and then Sue said, in a 
tone from which the note of hurt feeling had 
wholly dropped away: 

Miss Graham, I believe you’re our good angel ; 
and as for me, a minute ago I behaved like a per- 
fect goose. Bertha, if you’ll consent to act as the 
undivided head of this establishment, I shall be 
heartily thankful. I’ll do the washing every time, 
and sweep the rooms, and take care of the lamp,” 
— she stopped and made a grimace at the wick, 
then ended with all her old light-heartedness, — 

and please don’t imagine that I consider myself a 
martyr. I shall positively feel as if the old Man 
of the Sea had dropped off my shoulders if you’ll 
agree to do the cooking from this time on.” 

It was surprising how Bertha’s face had light- 
ened. It’s a bargain, with all my heart, Sue,” 
she said; ‘^only I shan’t let you do all the work 
you spoke of. That would be leaving the heavy 
end to you with a vengeance. And I must say,” 


SUE CELEBRATES HER TRIUMPHS, 


189 


she added earnestly, that I do think you’ve 
worked this week at a peculiar disadvantage. 
The only thing that has really been a test of 
your cooking is this cake, and that’s lovely. Miss 
Graham, do have another piece ! ” 


CHAPTER XIV. 


THE GIRLS RECEIVE AN INVITATION. 

FTER this times were really prosperous with 



the student housekeepers. There were no 
longer any unpleasant complications in their work, 
either in class-room or kitchen, and they settled 
down to the quiet enjoyment of a term at Merton 
Academy, feeling that the stage of experiment was 
fairly past. To some young people the simple 
routine of the weeks that followed might have 
seemed a little monotonous, but the Orcutt girls 
did not need the spice of variety to give zest to 
the winter. They had come to the Academy for 
the express purpose of study, and as a matter of 
fact, few of the students at that old-fashioned 
school, whose sort unfortunately has passed some- 
what out of vogue in these latter days, had come 
for anything else. They were for the most part 
a set of earnest, ambitious young people, whose 
minds were bent to the matter of getting an edu- 
cation with more than usual seriousness. 


190 


THE GIRLS RECEIVE AN INVITATION. igi 

There was, of course, along with their study, 
more or less of social intercourse, but it was of 
an easy, natural sort, acquaintances being formed 
for the most part in the class-room, and extended 
generally at coasting and skating parties, for which 
the sharp New England winter furnished abun- 
dant opportunity. Here the boys could extend 
their gallantries to the girls, and they were by 
no means dull in finding other occasions ; but Mr. 
Hermon’s shrewd management had easily effected 
that these should not be too numerous, and the 
unwritten code of the school was unmistakably 
opposed to anything resembling flirtation. 

After a mild fashion Bertha was rather fond of 
the social side of life, and her circle of acquaint- 
ance easily became much larger than that of her 
sister. She was, in a way, more accessible. An 
hour of freedom from work invariably meant for 
Sue an hour in the library, and an absent-minded 
air which usually hung about her outside of the 
class-room had given her associates the impression 
of a girl who was rather indifferent to ordinary 
friendships. 

must say,” Bertha remarked rather impa- 
tiently one day, when Sue had protested against 


192 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


the bother” of calling on a girl who had twice 
called on them, like to see something beside 
the lesson side of my friends,” and Sue heard the 
statement with a dawning suspicion of the fact 
that for her that side really included the whole 
person. 

The event which fairly brought her into social 
relations with the majority of her schoolmates 
occurred when the term had almost reached its 
half-way mark, and the occasion was the birth- 
day party of Miss Alma Lynn. Alma was one 
of the students, the prettiest girl and perhaps the 
most popular in the whole Academy. She was 
the daughter of the richest man in Merton, a 
woollen manufacturer, whose mills supplied more 
than half the actual business of the place. She 
was an only child, but had somehow quite escaped 
the spoiling which often falls to the lot of such 
unfortunates. She was frank and generous, and 
her simple, unaffected manners and bright good 
nature made her a favorite with every one who 
knew her. 

It was this fortunate young person whose six- 
teenth birthday fell on a certain Friday in January, 
and it was apparently necessary that something 


THE GIRLS RECEIVE AN INVITATION 


193 


should be done in the great house on Chestnut 
Street to celebrate the event. A week before it 
came to pass two notes, daintily addressed, one 
to Miss Orcutt, the other to Miss Susan Orcutt, 
were left by a messenger at Deacon Porter’s door, 
the purport of each being that Miss Alma Lynn 
requested the company of the young lady whose 
name graced the cover, on the evening of January 
tenth, from half-past seven till eleven o’clock. To 
which surprising statement were added the mys- 
terious letters S. V. P.” 

The girls, who were studying when the notes 
arrived, laid down their books and opened them 
in a flutter of excitement. 

Why, we’re invited to a party at Alma 
Lynn’s ! ” exclaimed Bertha, when she had ab- 
sorbed with her eyes the contents of hers. 

Yes,” said Sue, rather solemnly. She had 
never been addressed in the third person before, 
and she had a queer feeling that the invitation 
was really designed for some other girl, to whom, 
in some occult way, she was expected to forward it. 

But their combined wisdom was not equal to 
explaining the letters at the end, and for this, 
at the earliest possible moment, they had recourse 


194 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


to the little dressmaker. Fortunately she came 
home that very evening, and they were not 
obliged to defer the question long. 

^^Why, it means that you are to send word as 
soon as possible whether you can go or not,” said 
Miss Graham. Those letters stand for some French 
words, but I’ve forgotten what they are. I’m real 
glad you’re invited,” she added cordially. It’ll be 
a tremendously nice affair.” 

Do you suppose all the students are invited ? ” 
asked Bertha. 

^^All that are in Alma’s classes, I guess,” said 
Miss Graham ; I know it’s to be a pretty large 
party. The plan was on foot when I was sewing 
there last week. You’ll go, of course.” 

I should like to immensely,” said Bertha, and 
she added, with her immediate instinct for prac- 
tical details, ^^Are our brown cashmeres all right 
to wear ? ” 

Miss Graham hesitated a moment. They’re 
real nice dresses ; but if you have any lighter ones, 
I should advise you to wear them,” she said 
frankly. 

^^Why?” demanded Sue, in a tone which was 
slightly combative. 


THE GIRLS RECEIVE AN INVITATION. 


195 


Well, it’s the way folks generally do, when 
they go to parties,” said the little dressmaker. 
She caught an argumentative gleam in the ques- 
tioner’s eye, and went on, There isn’t any right 
or wrong about it, of course. You can wear your 
Sunday-go-to-meeting gown, if you choose, and 
nobody’ll think the worse of you. But when 
people go out of an evening, for the express pur- 
pose of having a good time, they generally want 
to look as pretty as they can, and something light 
and dainty is considered the correct thing.” 

It was certainly a straightforward statement of 
the fact, and perhaps the explanation was as pro- 
found as a philosopher could have made it. 

I have a cream-colored challis with a little blue 
sprig in it at home,” said Bertha reflectively. It 
was made last summer, and is just as good as new. 
Would that do?” 

Just the thing ! ” said the little dressmaker, in 
high glee. You ask your mother to send it up, 
and if it needs any extra touches. I’ll see that it 
gets ’em.” 

She looked at Sue, who was apparently wrapped 
in her own meditations, and a new idea seemed 
suddenly to dawn upon her. 


196 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


Oh, girls ! ” she exclaimed, bringing her small, 
facile hands together, with a little clap, I have 
a scheme ! ” 

It was apparently a most beautiful scheme, for 
her bright, dark eyes danced with a sudden delight, 
and she beamed upon her young friends for a 
minute in the most rapturous manner before she 
attempted to disclose it. 

Well, if things don’t come out just right when 
you wait long enough!” she exclaimed at last. 

Here I’ve had the material for the softest, sweet- 
est white dress lying in a drawer for years and 
years, and never knew what to do with it. Sue 
Orcutt, it’s been waiting all this time for you^ and 
you shall have it ! I’ll make it up in time for 
you to wear to that party.” 

Oh, but I couldn’t,” exclaimed Sue, looking 
almost frightened, I couldn’t think of such a 
thing.” 

Why ? ” demanded the little dressmaker, her 
own tone sounding now a little combative. 

^^Why — why, because it’s yours, and I don’t 
need it,” said Sue resolutely. 

Oh, if you needed it ! ” said the little dress- 
maker impatiently. ''If you did, I could under- 


THE GIRLS RECEIVE AH INVITATION. 


197 


stand perfectly your refusing, but under the cir- 
cumstances it’s absurd.” 

Sue looked decidedly puzzled, and Miss Graham 
went on : 

Because in that case you miglfit think I was 
offering it out of pity, and a body can’t take 
presents that way. But you don’t need it. You 
could wear that nice cashmere, or something you 
have at home, for aught I know, and be charm- 
ing enough. There’s only one reason in the 
world, and you know it, why I want to give you 
that dress.” 

She did not put the one reason ” into the one, 
short obvious word which would have expressed 
it, but it shone so unmistakably in her eyes at 
that moment, that Sue’s involuntarily dropped. 

You see that cloth was given to me,” pursued 
Miss Graham, with an odd little accent in her 
voice, years ago — oh, I don’t like to think how 
many — by a cousin of mine who went to sea. He 
brought it home to me after a voyage. I was 
young then, and wore pretty dresses, and went 
out like other girls. But something happened 
that changed everything, and I put the cloth 
away, — that and some other things, — and I never 


198 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


had the heart afterwards to do anything with 
them. I’m too old now to wear white if I 
would, and I’ve often wondered what I should 
ever do with that cloth.” 

She stopped, and Sue said imploringly, ^^Miss 
Graham, it’s ever so kind in you to want me to 
have it. Please don’t think I don’t appreciate it, 
but it’s too much to take as a present. It is 
indeed.” 

Miss Graham leaned back in her chair and 
looked at Sue with a reproachful little smile. 

And yet,” she said, you told me a few weeks 
ago — it’s mean of me to bring it up, I know, 
but you’re forcing me to it — that if you could 
ever do anything for me — ” 

Oh,” broke in Sue, protesting, but that’s the 
very trouble. It’s you who would be doing for 
me again, and I have no chance at all at return.” 

Miss Graham made a despairing little gesture. 

And yet you’ve been repeating ever since you 
were old enough to talk, and pretending to be- 
lieve, that it’s ^ more blessed to give than to 
receive ’ ; that it actually does make people 
happier. And now when you have the chance of 
giving me this very happiness, you won’t let me 


THE GIRLS RECEIVE AN INVITATION 


199 


have it. Perhaps, in your heart, you don’t even 
believe that verse is true.” 

Sue could not speak. She looked helplessly at 
the little dressmaker. 

Just put yourself in my place,” said the latter 
pleadingly. ‘^Wouldn’t you like to do this thing if 
you were I, and I were you ? Can’t you conceive 
of its putting the sweetest sort of a pleasure into 
your life ? Ah, my dear, if you really were in 
my place, you’d know how few pleasures of this 
sort come in my way.” 

The tears had sprung into Sue’s eyes. Miss 
Graham,” she began impetuously — 

“ And yet,” said the other, putting up her 
hand as if to stop the words before it should be 
too late, if there isn’t, down deep in your heart, 
a feeling for me that puts out the sense of obli- 
gation, and makes giving and receiving seem 
somehow all one thing, don’t take it. It’s the 
only ground on which you could afford to take 
it, and Heaven knows I love you too well to 
want you to.” 

The tears were fairly over the lids of Sue’s 
eyes now. She bent suddenly and kissed the 
little dressmaker. 


200 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


My dear/' said the latter (she was winking 
hard herself), what an absurdly serious thing 
we're making of this trifle. Shall I cut the 
dress out Monday?" 

She did it, of course, and in the end the mak- 
ing of the dress was the only point at which Sue 
felt in the least burdened by the acceptance of 
the beautiful gift. 

It does seem a little hard that you should 
have done all this work for nothing," she said 
wistfully, as she tried on the dress for the last 
time, and revolved slowly around for Miss Graham 
and Bertha to see if everything was exactly right. 

It has taken away just so much money that 
you would have earned if you'd been working for 
anybody else." 

That's a fact," said Miss Graham cheerfully. 

I could have made two dollars by working these 
two days for Mrs. Dufly, who is the fussiest 
woman in town. Between ourselves I consider it 
a special providence that I could plead this dress 
as a previous engagement. But if it will ease 
your mind any, my dear, why, you may pay me 
that two dollars, by and by, when you’re sweep- 
ing in the shekels for yourself. On the whole, I 


THE GIRLS RECEIVE AN INVITATION. 


201 


believe it would be rather nice to feel that I had 
that much coming to me in my old age.” 

Sue laughed. Miss Graham,” she cried, I’ll 
do it, and you shall take compound interest into 
the bargain.” 

She kept her word years after, and the rate of 
interest was of her own setting. 


CHAPTER XV. 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 

rriHE eventful evening came at last. Great had 
been the excitement over it among the 
students at the Academy, and many were the con- 
sultations held at noons and recesses as to forms 
of acceptance and matters of dress and escort. 
Mr. Hermon would probably have objected to the 
affair, had it come on any other evening than 
Friday, and had “ the founder of the feast ’’ been 
any one except Alma Lynn. But that young lady 
had thrown the spell of her sweet good-nature 
around him as completely as around her school- 
mates, and she had had the tact not only to take 
him into her confidence as to this party at the 
very start, but even to secure his own promise to 
come. 

It was the knowledge of this latter fact, which 
Alma made no secret, that sharpened Sue Orcutt’s 
appetite for the affair more than anything 
else. A thousand times since that evening when 


202 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


203 


Mr. Hermon said, We must know each other 
better,” she had longed to see and talk with him 
outside the class-room, but she had never quite 
been able to summon the courage for a call at 
his own house, and no other opportunity had ever 
presented itself. 

She wondered, with an odd fluttering of heart, 
as she and Bertha walked towards Alma’s house 
that night, whether he would notice her in the 
company, and whether there would be any chance 
for conversation. 

The great house was lighted from the top to 
the ground. It seemed to the girls they had 
never seen so many shining windows in one 
dwelling before, and they walked up the hand- 
some stone steps with a feeling of awb which was 
not diminished when, at the first touch of the bell, 
a dapper young colored man threw open the door. 
There were little groups of people standing about 
in the hall and in the rooms which opened on 
either side, but no one seemed to observe their 
entrance, and they mounted the wide staircase 
with their eyes straight ahead, scarcely daring 
even to look at each other. It was a relief to 
find a number of girls whom they knew taking 


204 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


off their wraps in the chamber to which they 
were directed, but the presence of the genteel- 
looking maid in a white cap, who assisted in the 
operation, was sufficient to keep all their voices at 
a very subdued pitch. 

It was a beautiful room, — Alma’s, one of the 
girls said, — and Sue wondered, with a sort of dazed 
feeling, if Alma actually did sleep every night in 
a room like that. But the wonder gave place to 
another the next moment, as she caught a glimpse 
of herself in a full-length mirror. Really, she 
had not known till that moment how well she 
looked in the new dress. It was so soft and 
graceful, and withal so simple and girlish, that 
the effect was charming, and she realized, with a 
sudden thrill of gratitude to the little dressmaker, 
how much easier it would be to adjust herself to 
the occasion in a dress like that, than it would 
have been in the sober brown cashmere. Bertha 
was looking charming too, in the dainty challis, to 
which Miss Graham had given a few of her most 
cunning touches, and somehow the awe of their 
surroundings half melted for them both in the 
consciousness that their own dress was in perfect 
keeping. But it wholly melted when Alma her- 









5 }^ 





THE ORCUTT GIRLS GO INTO SOCIETY 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


205 


self greeted them on their return to the lower 
floor. ’ She was radiant in a white dress, which 
Sue inwardly pronounced not a bit prettier than 
her own, in spite of the exquisite lace at throat 
and sleeves ; and her manner was so perfectly 
natural, so thoroughly cordial, that it would have 
been impossible for any one not hopelessly afflicted 
with self-consciousness, to feel awkward or fright- 
ened. 

There were easy little introductions to her 
parents and a trio of Boston cousins who had 
come down for the occasion, and really within a 
few minutes the Orcutt girls had decided that 
a party of this sort was not half such a test of 
self-possession as one in a country parlor, where 
the young people slipped shyly into chairs set in a 
row around the walls, and waited timidly for each 
other to speak. 

They did not realize, — as indeed no uninitiated 
person could, — the careful preparation, the exquisite 
attention given in advance to every detail, which 
made that party such a notable success ; but a suc- 
cess they realized fully that it was. 

There was no dancing or card-playing. In the 
former probably not one in five of the Academy 


206 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


students could have joined, and as for the latter, 
Mr. Hermon’s mortal dislike to it as a form of en- 
tertainment was too well known. 

Cards, Madam ! ” he had once said, with an 
awful frown, to a lady who asked if he had any 
objection to her inviting a few of his students to 
a euchre party. Cards! They are the bane of 
society and the destruction of good conversation. 
If people will take to them in their old age, when 
they’re too heavy and stupid for anything else, 
why let them. But for young people, who ought 
to be gathering new ideas, and meeting for the 
sake of exchanging them, to plant themselves at 
a table and spend an evening staring at their 
hands and saying, ^ Pass ! Pass 1 ’ Madam, it ought 
not to be once named among them.” And the 
manner in which he thrust out his under lip and 
glared as he said it, was, as the lady afterwards 
declared, enough to make one’s blood run cold. 

But there were social diversions in plenty at 
Alma Lynn’s party, games charmingly adapted to 
sharpening the wits of the players and bringing 
them into the most genial acquaintance. Dick 
Julian, who, as everybody knew, was on specially 
good terms with Alma, and was nothing if not a 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY, 


207 


genius in the way of making things lively, lent all 
his energies to the carrying out of her ideas ; and 
as her guests came for the most part promptly, 
instead of straggling in during several hours, after 
the manner of a fashionable party, it was easy 
before long to have them all agreeably occupied. 

A circle in the parlor were busy with a new 
game which one of the Boston girls had suggested, 
another in the library were engaged in a merry 
contest at word-making, and bursts of laughter 
from the hall testified to the hits which were being 
made at Crambo by a group of players there. 

It was a particularly good crowd for the enjoy- 
ment of such things, but the grand success of the 
evening, as far as games were concerned, was a bout 
at capping verses,” in which Mr. Hermon him- 
self took a part. He had come early, and for a 
while mingled with the company, shaking hands 
and chatting with the students in the most genial 
manner, but later he had gravitated to a corner of 
the library, and a volume of Homer, with a date 
away back in the dark ages,” as Dick Julian said, 
had presently absorbed him. It was Dick whose 
arts were finally successful in luring him away 
from the enticing volume to join in the sport. 


208 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


Capping verses ? Why yes, that’s a good game ; 
I used to enjoy playing it myself,” he said, in 
answer to the boy’s suggestion, and the benevolent 
desire of starting the young people off in good 
shape, which, as his tempter well knew, would 
speedily give place to a raging desire to beat them 
all, was sufficient to draw him into the circle. 

As good luck would have it. Sue Orcutt was in 
that circle too, and Sue had a memory for verses, 
which, in its way, was not a bad match for Mr. 
Hermon’s own. His, as everybody knew, was 
simply phenomenal, and there was little indeed of 
the best literature which was not to him familiar 
ground. Lines from Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, 
fell from his lips in swift succession, and if Eng- 
lish poetry for an instant failed him, the treasures 
of Virgil, Horace, Dante, seemed equally at call. 
Sue, of course, had no such store from which to 
draw, but what she had she commanded with 
amazing readiness. There had been some good 
poetry in the old school readers ; she had parsed 
from Pope’s Essay on Man ; and as for Watts and' 
Select Hymns, it really seemed as if she had the 
greater part of that venerable collection at her 
tongue’s end. 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


209 


After ten minutes the contest was practically 
between these two. The rest of the company had 
one after another dropped out, their stock of 
available quotations quite exhausted, but there 
was no sign of flagging on the part of Sue or 
Mr. Hermon. They sat facing each other, the 
girl’s cheeks as red as roses, and her eyes spar- 
kling with excitement, while the great man of the 
Academy leaned forward, his hands clenched on 
the arms of his chair, and his face expressive of 
a distinct consciousness that for once he had met 
a ^^foeman worthy of his steel.” 

Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed before there 
was a perceptible halt. It was Mr. Hermon’s 
turn now, and for the first time he hesitated. 
The last quotation had ended with an e, that 
provokingly recurrent letter which had already 
taxed his memory at least a score of times. He 
ran his fingers through his hair, frowned, and 
puckered his lips into an inaudible whistle. Sue 
gave him a quarter of a minute, but she had no 
idea of letting him prolong his chance after that. 
The hymn book had already suggested to her the 
needed line. 

I have it ! ” she exclaimed, and starting to 


210 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


her feet she repeated, in a tone of inexpressible 
triumph : 

Each cherub claps his wings of fire, 

Each seraph strikes his golden lyre.” 

The effect was tremendous. Mr. Hermon threw 
himself back, and laughed in a manner which 
Sue remembered years after, when she read of the 
solitary explosion credited to the hero of Sartor 
Resartus. The company broke into applause, and 
Sue suddenly found herself the centre of the gay- 
est congratulations. When the tumult had a little 
subsided, Mr. Hermon himself strode across the 
room and grasped her hand in a manner which 
made her fingers fairly tingle. 

^^Well, young lady,” he said, beaming down at 
her with the most evident enjoyment of it all, 
‘Hhis is the first time I was ever beaten at cap- 
ping verses, and you may congratulate yourself on 
the feat all you wish to.” 

I’m afraid I gave that last quotation quicker 
than was really fair,” said Sue apologetically, 
but I thought ’twas my only chance and I’d 
better take it.” 

Mr. Hermon’s eyes twinkled. “Very discreet 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


21 I 


on your part/' he said, ^^but I think you'd have 
beaten me in the end without any doubt. Be- 
tween Pope and the hymn book I foresee that 
you’d have gotten the better of me sooner or 
later. Perhaps, in a game of this kind it’s really 
an advantage not to have too varied a store to 
draw from.” 

He chuckled to himself for a moment, then 
added, looking at her keenly, “ I see you have a 
memory of the same sort I have. A line of 
poetry sticks to it as naturally as a burr in a 
sheep’s wool, but you really ought to be filling it 
with the best things. Do you get to the library 
often ? ” 

Not as often as I wish I could,” said Sue 
quickly ; but it’s beautiful to be there even once 
in a while. I never had a chance at very many 
books till I came to Merton.” 

Mr. Hermon nodded as if he understood the 
case perfectly. 

^^Well, a few books are better than many for 
some people,” he said; and then he added with 
emphasis, that is, up to a certain point.” 

Sue wondered how it could be good for any- 
body to be shut up to a handful of books when 


212 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


there was so much to be learned, and so many, 
many delightful books were waiting to disclose it. 
If people could only begin to read the moment 
they opened their eyes, and keep at it continu- 
ously for sixty or seventy years, that, it appeared 
to her, would be the really joyful thing. She 
was on the point of asking Mr. Hermon to ex- 
plain that dark saying of his, when some one at 
his elbow, who was waiting for a chance to speak 
with him, took advantage of the pause to draw 
him off, and she felt that for the present at least 
her bit of chat was at an end. 

She was feeling the disappointment, with a 
touch of vexation, when Dick Julian suddenly 
presented himself. 

“ I say, that was immense ! ” he exclaimed, his 
bright, handsome face quite aglow with admiration. 

I didn’t suppose there was anybody alive who 
could beat Mr. Hermon on quotations.” 

Oh, I didn’t really beat him,” said Sue. “If 
I’d given him another second, he’d have had one.” 

“ But he had no right to that other second,” 
persisted Dick, “ and you floored him in good 
shape. He enjoyed it too. Wasn’t it great, 
though, the way he laughed?” 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


213 


They both laughed at the remembrance, and 
then Sue said rather soberly that she didn’t quite 
see what it was that amused him so much, after 
all. 

Why, it was your beating him, for one thing,” 
said Dick promptly, and then that line about 
the cherubs is so awfully funny. Where in the 
world did you get it?” 

^^Why, it’s in the hymn book,” said Sue. ^^It’s 
in one of the hymns under ‘ Glories of Heaven.’ 
Don’t you remember ? But I’m sure I never 
thought there was anything so very funny about 
it,” she added, more soberly than before. 

^^Well, it strikes me as sort of comical,” said 
Dick, twisting his face in the effort to keep it 
straight. It makes it seem as if the cherubs 

were sort of roosters, you know, clapping their 
wings.” 

Sue looked distinctly shocked, and Dick’s face 
reddened with a sudden misgiving that he had 
said something she did not approve. 

I’m afraid you think I’m awfully irreverent,” 
he said, ^^but I don’t mean to be. It isn’t the 
cherubs that seem comical, but only that way of 
putting it. I don’t feel a bit irreverent over 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


2 14 

cherubs,” he added earnestly, when I look at 
that lovely pair in the picture of the Madonna.” 

Sue had not the slightest idea to what picture 
he referred, and she said so with a frankness 
which made Dick, in his turn, look a little 
shocked. 

^^Why, it’s Raphael’s picture, you know,” he 
said politely, the Sistine Madonna, where the 
clouds are all full of little angels, and the sweetest 
pair of all are at her feet.” 

Even after this Sue had the hardihood to admit 
that she knew nothing at all about it ; and Dick, 
feeling himself surprisingly learned, offered a little 
modest information, to which he added, with a 
sudden recollection, Why, there’s a copy in the 
library here ! Perhaps you’d like to go and look 
at it now.” 

She said most heartily that she would, and Dick 
escorted her at once to a corner of the library, 
where, among other exquisite engravings, hung 
the picture in question. It was the first fine 
Madonna Sue had ever seen, and unaccustomed as 
her eyes were to any contemplation of real art, 
she saw in an instant that it was unspeakably 
beautiful. She gazed at it for several minutes in 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


215 


perfect silence, and Dick had the good taste not 
to break it by any comments of his. 

Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful ! ” she said at 
last, with a thrill in her voice. I had no idea 
Madonnas looked like that.” And then she could 
not help adding, with just a touch of severity in 
her expression, But I think the cherubs are the 
best part of it. It’s reasonable for cherubs to be 
in a position like that, but Mary was a real 
woman, and she couldn’t have stood on the clouds 
that way. Somehow, it doesn’t seem quite right.” 

Dick laughed irrepressibly. His ancestors had 
not, like hers, come over in the Mayflower,” and, 
if they had, possibly the atmosphere of wealth and 
culture which had for some time surrounded the 
Julian family would have dissipated any inherited 
prejudice against Madonnas in the clouds. He 
wished, with a twinkle in his eyes, that his sister 
could have heard that; then he said gayly: 

I guess you’d like the Madonna of the Chair 
better. You couldn’t find any objection to that, 
unless it was the halo, but you have to put up 
with that in all of them, you know. I don’t pre- 
tend to be any authority on Madonnas,” he added 
modestly, but I must say I think this is the pick 


2I6 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


of the lot. Mamma insisted on my looking at no 
end of them when we were abroad, and I know 
she wanted me to feel awfully impressed, but this 
is the only one I can really remember. It’s in 
the Dresden Gallery, and somehow it sticks by me 
a great deal better than the ones I saw in Rome. 
I guess it must be on account of the cherubs.” 

Sue turned her eyes suddenly from the picture, 
and looked at her companion with an expression 
of wonder greater even than she had bestowed 
upon the Madonna. ^^Do you mean to say that 
you’ve been in Rome?” she exclaimed, actually 
in Rome? And have you seen the Seven Hills, 
and the Tiber, and the Tarpeian Rock, and the 
place where the Forum was, and — ” 

She stopped, fairly out of breath. The thought 
of it all was really too overwhelming. 

Dick laughed again. It was the first time in 
his life that he had ever suspected any one of 
looking upon him as in the least degree remark- 
able, and the sensation was peculiar. 

Why, I guess I must have seen them,” he 
said lightly; ^^but ’twas when I was just a little 
shaver, and I can’t say I took much of it 
in. What I remember best is the fun I used 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


217 


to have playing with the little Dagos in the 
court.’' 

Sue gave a gasp. It was almost too much to 
realize that there actually were persons, fellow- 
countrymen of her own age, who had lived, and 
moved, and, for a time at least, had their being, 
among those historic scenes, of which she had 
read with such inexpressible swellings of heart, 
in the pages of her Ancient History. That they 
should have done anything, at any age, but gaze 
in awe-stricken admiration at those ancient won- 
ders, was another stunning fact for which she 
felt herself wholly unprepared. 

^^Well,” she said at last, looking at Dick with 
a strange expression, I’ve often wondered how 
people felt who had actually seen Rome.” 

^^So far as I know they don’t feel any different 
from ordinary folks,” said the boy, and he added 
instantly, for they’re ordinary folks themselves ; 
in fact, the most ordinary kind.” 

Sue laughed a little now, and Dick felt that 
the acquaintance was progressing famously. He 
remembered that there was a portfolio in the 
room full of pictures of foreign scenes, and it 
occurred to him that Sue was just the person to 


2i8 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


enjoy it. She certainly was, and the duty 
of showing it to her proved so extremely agree- 
able that for the next hour neither of them felt 
the least inclination to look for entertainment 
anywhere else. In the midst of it the announce- 
ment came of refreshments in the dining-room, 
and it went without saying that they should go 
out together and finish their tete-a-tete there. 

It was a beautiful room, of course, but Sue was 
more impressed by the flowers on the table than 
by anything else. She had never seen so many 
in mid-winter, in all her life together, and the 
bunch of red carnations which were presently given 
to her, for her own, quite overpowered her with 
the sense of riches. 

Bertha was already in the room. She had 
come out with a tall young senior who had the 
reputation of being one of the best scholars at 
the Academy, but they did not seem to have half 
as much to say to each other as Sue and Dick. 

‘^Do you know,” said the latter, who evidently 
thought it quite time to get down from high art 
to every-day life, I began to think I should never 
see you anywhere outside of the class-room. Seems 
to me you don’t go out as much as the other girls.” 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


219 


^^Well, I don’t go out much, except to the 
library,” admitted Sue. You see we don’t have 
much time, and I have to study pretty hard.” 

Not as hard as you did on that first lesson, 
I hope,” said Dick with a twdnkle in his eyes. 

Sue’s cheeks, which were red before, grew a 
shade redder. How did he know how much time 

she spent on that first lesson ? She asked the 

question with her eyes, and he read it in an 

instant. 

«« Why, we all knew about that,” he replied 

boldly. You don’t suppose Mr. Hermon could 
keep it to himself, do you? He told the whole 
story in the Greek class the next Monday morn- 
ing. My, but he set you on a pinnacle, and if 
he didn’t make the rest of us feel like poor, 
miserable sinners, ’twasn’t his fault, I can tell 
you.” 

Sue looked uncomfortable. I wush he hadn’t 
done it,” she said. I worked that way because 
I had to. That was all there was about it.” 

Well, I think ’twas only fair that he should 
tell,” protested Dick. He knew what we all 
thought.” He colored a little at the glance 
Sue gave him, then added stoutly, Why, we 


220 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


couldn’t help it, you see, you reeled it off so 
fast. Though, of course, if we’d ever heard you 
recite before, we should have known that was the 
way you naturally did it. You really mustn’t be 
too hard on us for thatj considering ’twas the first 
lesson.” 

“Well, I should think you’d all have risen up, 
then and there, and asked him to put me out of 
the class, if that was what you thought,” said 
Sue, her eyes full of righteous indignation. 

Dick looked a trifle uneasy. The subject of 
“ ponies ” was perhaps one on which he did not 
care to be drawn out very fully. 

“What I should like to know,” he said, turning 
rather hastily to another branch of the subject, “ is 
whether it’s really true that you never had read 
anything but the Latin Reader when you came 
into our class.” 

“ Yes, that’s the fact of the matter,^’ said Sue ; 
“but I didn’t mean any one should find it out.” 
And then her eyes suddenly sparkled. “ Do you 
know,” she exclaimed, “ that I never should have 
gotten into your class at all if it hadn’t been for 
you ? ” 

“For mef repeated Dick in amazement. 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


22 1 


Yes,” she said, with a little nod, and then she 
told him of that first interview with Mr. Hermon, 
and how she had been saved the disclosure of her 
secret, by his sudden coming into the room. 

Dick seemed much impressed. Well, that’s one 
for me ! ” he exclaimed in a tone of high satisfac- 
tion when she had finished. I’ll bring that up 
to Mr. Hermon the next time he tells me I haven’t 
accomplished anything since I’ve been in Merton 
Academy.” 

Does he ever tell you that ? ” asked Sue, look- 
ing at him with sudden solemnity. 

‘^Well, he throws out a hint of that sort, now 
and then,” said Dick. “You must have discovered^ 
by this time that our respected principal has a 
powerful imagination.” 

She did not respond to the smile with which he 
said it. “ I should think it would be dreadful to 
feel that he was displeased with you,” she said 
very gravely. “It seems to me I couldn’t bear it.” 

“Well, it is pretty bad,” said Dick, sobering at 
once. “ I hate to have him feel that way myself. 
But the bother is he’s set the standard for me so 
unconscionably high. You see he knew my father 
at college, and father made a tremendous record 


222 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


in everything he took. That’s what Mr. Hermon 
is always measuring me by. He can’t get it out 
of his head that I ought to do that same way, and 
carry off all the honors just as father did. Hang 
it all, ’tisn’t in me ! I don’t care a bit about the 
honors nor college either.” 

Ohr' said Sue, and it is doubtful whether 
from his father, or the principal of Merton Acad- 
emy, Dick Julian had ever received a look of 
such sorrowful amazement as the little girl in the 
white dress gave him at that moment. The pas- 
sionate longing she had felt all her life for a 
thorough education, the ambition to excel, with 
which every fibre of her nature tingled, the love 
of knowledge for its own sake, all rushed upon her 
at that instant, and she wondered with an inex- 
pressible wonder at the case of this boy, who, with 
the way made smooth before him, cared for none 
of these things. The one little monosyllable was 
all she uttered, and perhaps it was the best she 
could have done. 

Dick’s face grew still more sober. I know 
you think that’s strange,” he said humbly. Some- 
times I do feel ashamed of myself, and think I’ll 
try to turn over a new leaf.” 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


223 


“ Oh, I would,” said Sue, with the most unaffected 
earnestness. I’m sure you could do splendidly if you 
tried, and ’twould do Mr. Hermon so much good.” 

^^Well, I honestly believe I will, just for the 
novelty of the thing,” said Dick. His cheerfulness 
had recovered itself at a bound, and he added 
lightly, ‘^It would please Mr. Hermon, there’s no 
mistake about that. He thinks a good deal of me, 
for all I’ve been such a thorn in his side, and I 
think a good deal of him too. I boarded at his 
house the first term I was here, but we couldn’t 
stand that, either of us. However, I feel at home 
there yet, and I make it a matter of conscience to 
look in upon him at least once a week.” 

He asked me once to come and see him,” said Sue 
eagerly. It was that night I told him about the Cicero, 
and I’ve been longing to go ever since. But he didn’t 
set the time, and somehow I haven’t had the courage.” 

Dick looked amused. You needn’t be a bit 
afraid of him,” he said. He’s the coziest kind of a 
man in his own study,” and then he added, with 
a little laugh, The idea of your being afraid, such 
a scholar as you are, and my running in whenever 
I’ve a mind to ! It’s a clear case of fools rushing 
in where angels fear to tread.” 


224 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


She looked a little annoyed, and he made haste 
to add, You see I do know a quotation or two, 
though I can’t shoot them off as you can, when it 
comes to capping verses.” 

The cake and ice-cream had been finished by this 
time, and it occurred to Sue that it was quite 
time to join her sister. Dick, however, detained 
her for just a moment longer, while he suggested, 
in a low voice, the pleasure it would give him if 
he might accompany her home at the close of the 
evening. 

Oh, thank you,” she said, looking at him with 
the most artless candor, ^^but there isn’t a bit of 
need of it. Bertha and I always go together, and 
we’re not at all afraid.” 

Dick bit his lip. He told Alma Lynn after- 
wards that Sue Orcutt was the coolest hand at 
giving a fellow the mitten he had ever seen ; but 
it was evident that he did not feel much cut up 
by it, and apparently he liked her none the less. 
As for Sue, she felt rather sorry she had refused 
him, when a half-hour later she found herself 
obliged to share with her sister the attentions of 
the dignified young senior, whose escort, much to 
her amazement, Bertha had accepted. 


A TASTE OF SOCIETY. 


225 


Eleven o’clock came wonderfully early that 
night, and had not the limits of invitation been 
definitely fixed in advance, it is more than likely 
that many of Alma’s guests would have prolonged 
their stay. That the evening was the shortest 
they had ever known, was a remark made by 
more than one of the gay young company as they 
left the door, and that it had been thoroughly 
enjoyed was testimony to which there was not a 
solitary exception. Not all of them said it in set 
phrase to the hostess, but they said it to them- 
selves and each other with possibly the more 
heartiness, as they walked briskly homeward under 
the frosty winter’s starlight. 

The little dressmaker, who of course came into 
the girls’ room the next evening to hear all about 
it, received full particulars ; and she remarked at 
the end in a tone of complete satisfaction, ^^Well, 
I knew ’twould be worth going to, and I’m so 
glad you went.” 

To which Bertha responded heartily, I had no 
idea a party could be so nice,” and Sue added 
with a loving little squeeze of Miss Graham’s 
hand, ^^And I know it was a great deal nicer for 
me because I had that beautiful dress.” 

Q 


CHAPTER XVI. 


DICK MAKES A CALL 


FTER that it came about naturally enough 



that, in a social way, the girls saw more of 
their schoolmates. The dignified young senior 
came home with them both from the next Saturday 
evening meeting ; and though Sue would much 
rather have had Bertha’s company all to herself, 
and had a strong suspicion that the young man 
shared her sentiments, they mutually made the 
best of it, and talked earnestly, as they walked 
along, of the points Mr. Hermon had made in his 


talk. 


Ah, those talks ! Which of all the boys and 
girls, grown now to middle-aged men and women, 
who were fortunate enough to sit in that old 
class-room when Theophilus Hermon sat on the 
platform can ever forget them ? 

He was always simple, often homely in his 
phrase and illustration, but he held those fresh 
young hearts as only a great and gifted soul 


DICK MAKES A CALL. 


227 


could hold them, and there were moments when 
he set the best and highest aims of life before 
them in a glory which must haunt the memory 
through all after years, a vision to poison all 
meaner choice forever more.” 

There was just one drawback, in the minds of 
some of the sedate patrons of the school, to those 
glorious meetings. That was a fashion the boys 
had of ranging themselves in two straight lines 
outside the door, and as the girls walked demurely 
through, capturing one after another for the walk 
home. Somehow, these valiant escorts always 
managed to get out of the room first and stand 
there in solemn readiness ; and though it was 
sometimes whispered among the girls that it was 
really a dreadful ordeal, the historian fails to 
recall the name of any who ever stayed away on 
that account. 

Dick Julian invariably walked off with Alma 
Lynn. They had long been on terms of the most 
perfect camaraderie, but discerning classmates of his 
were beginning to suspect of late that he was not 
quite indifferent to the little girl in the Cicero 
class. It was noticed that he glanced furtively at 
her when he made a good recitation, and as a 


228 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


matter of fact, Dick made a rather surprising 
number of these in the week that followed the 
party. Not that they were phenomenal in any 
way. The constructions were still a little shaky, 
and the choice of words not quite Websterian, but 
they did imply a fair amount, at least, of honest 
study, and once called forth from Mr. Hermon 
a benignant, Dick, my boy, I have hopes of 
you.” It was on this occasion that Sue sent him 
an unmistakable smile, and the boy’s face had 
flushed with pleasure to the edge of his curly brown 
hair. 

Perhaps it was this smile that inspired him sud- 
denly with a bold desire to call upon her. In 
general, Dick had nerve enough for gallantries of 
any sort, but in Sue’s case there were obstacles. 
He had a half suspicion that if he did call, she 
would not have the least idea what he had come 
for, and would stand at the door with a wonder- 
ing look waiting for him to deliver his errand. 
But Fortune favored Dick. It was a way Fortune 
had, for that matter. Never was a boy to whose 
wishes circumstances seemed to shape themselves 
with more easy accommodation or who slid out of 
scrapes and embarrassments with greater facility. 


DICK MAKES A CALL. 


229 


A few evenings later he stood at the door of the 
room over Mrs. Porter’s kitchen and made his 
best bow as Sue responded to his knock. 

She had quite the surprised look he had 
expected, and he made haste to say, I hope I’m 
not intruding. I have a little errand to Miss 
Graham, and Mrs. Porter told me she was up here. 
She said she’d call her down,” he added ingen- 
uously, ^^but I knew the way up and thought I’d 
save her the trouble.” 

Won’t you come in?” said Sue, and he 
accepted her invitation with the utmost alacrity. 

I should think you did know the way up 
here, Dick,” said Miss Graham, when he had 
delivered himself of the message from his land- 
lady to the effect that she wanted a day’s work 
from the little dressmaker, and the latter had fixed 
the date. ^^You certainly ought to know it. It 
seems to me you were here most of the time that 
term we had Griggs and Riley.” 

^^I’m afraid I was,” said Dick, smiling, ^^and I 
shouldn’t wonder if we bothered you sometimes 
with our racket. It was an awfully jolly place to 
come. But I don’t believe either of the boys 
would know their old quarters if they should step 


230 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


in here now/' he added, glancing with a smile 
about the neat, cozy room. 

“ It would need a pile of dirty dishes on the 
table, and a sprinkling of ashes and grease-spots 
round the stove, and a bootjack or so in the mid- 
dle of the floor, to make the place look really 
familiar,” assented Miss Graham. Not that I 
came in here much to visit in those days,” she 
added, with a glance at the girls ; but they had 
a way of keeping the door open, and a body can’t 
go down stairs with her eyes shut, you know. By 
the way, I wonder what’s become of those boys.” 

Griggs is teaching in Thornbridge this winter,” 
said Dick, but he was over at Alma Lynn’s 
party the other night.” He turned suddenly 
towards the girls and demanded gayly, Didn’t 
we have the best kind of a time, though, at that 
party ? ” 

Yes indeed,” they responded in chorus, and 
Sue added to Bertha’s warm little eulogy of Alma, 
But I thought the very best of it all was having 
Mr. Hermon there.” 

^^Well, that was good,” said Dick cordially, 
^^and I guess he enjoyed it himself. As a rule, 
he hates going to parties.” 


DICK MAKES A CALL. 


231 


I wonder why,” said Sue ; it doesn’t seem to 
be a bit of trouble to him to talk with people.” 

“ I guess it’s partly because he hates the bother 
of dressing up,” laughed Dick. ^^He doesn’t give 
much time to his personal appearance as a general 
thing, you know.” 

^^Well, I wish he did give a little more time 
to it before he comes to school some days,” said 
Bertha rather severely. 

I don’t know as I do,” said Sue, bridling. 
She had quite forgotten the sensation of that first 
moment when she herself stood before his desk 
and noted, in a dismayed surprise, the disordered 
hair, the twisted cravat, and the missing cuff. 

His peculiarities are just a part of himself, and 
I don’t want him the least bit different from what 
he is. He is too great to care about the way he 
looks.” 

Oh my dear, nobody’s great enough to be 
above being neat,” interposed Miss Graham. 
person’s dress counts for a good deal in this 
world.” 

^^Mr. Hermon would agree with you there,” 
said Dick quickly. ^^I’ve heard him grow posi- 
tively eloquent over the matter of being orderly, 


232 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


and he’s meek as a lamb if anybody takes him 
to task for his own careless appearance ; but the 
trouble is he gets to thinking about something 
else, and then he actually doesn’t know what he 
puts on or how he puts it. I’ve known him to 
go to school with one shoe on and one slipper.” 

Bertha looked rather disgusted, and Sue in- 
wardly wished that she could have it for part of 
her mission in life to dust Mr. Hermon’s shoes 
every morning, and set them where he could not 
possibly fail to stick his feet into them. 

But the funniest thing of all,” continued Dick, 
with a laugh in his voice, was the way he started 
once to comb his hair. He usually forgets it, you 
know, or, if he doesn’t, runs his fingers through it 
the very next minute and makes it look worse 
than ever. Well, it was last year at Commence- 
ment, and Mrs. Biggs — she’s his housekeeper — 
had set her heart on his looking particularly nice. 
She stood over him herself till the collar and neck- 
tie were safely on, but, as ill-luck would have it, 
she was called off just then, and had to leave him 
to comb his hair himself. He really meant to do 
the job in first-class style, and he wet his hair 
uncommonly wet and combed it down over his 


DICK MAKES A CALL. 


233 


forehead to get the part straight. But just at 
that moment he caught sight of Dr. Jeffrey, who 
had come to make the address that day, going by 
the house, and he forgot what he was doing, 
clapped his hat onto his head, and rushed after 
him. You just ought to have seen how he looked 
sitting on the platform ! The oldest inhabitant 
never saw his hair plastered down in that way 
before, and ’twas too comical for anything. Mrs. 
Riggs actually cried over it, and she told me 
afterwards she’d never ask him to comb his hair 
again the longest day she lived.” 

Dick fairly doubled up with the remembrance, 
and the others, including Bertha, laughed convul- 
sively. 

^^Well, Mr. Hermon’s an odd genius,” said Miss 
Graham, when the laugh had subsided. ^‘There’s 
no use trying to defend some of his tricks and 
manners, but people who can’t excuse any or all 
of them after they once know him, aren’t worth 
considering. I suppose he keeps you as hard at 
work as ever, Dick,” she added, with a sly glance 
at the boy. 

Harder,” said Dick solemnly. I’ve been 
working like a Turk for the last ten days. My 


234 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


landlady’s beginning to feel positively worried 
about me.” 

Miss Graham looked amused, and Dick added, 
with a glance at Sue, You’ll vouch for me in 
the Cicero, won’t you ? ” 

I’ll vouch for it that you’ve been making the 
best recitations you’ve had this term,” said Sue 
heartily, “ and I know it has pleased Mr. Hermon. 
Somehow I think it hurts him worse when you 
fail than when any of the rest of us do.” 

I know it,” said Dick with a groan, and it 
puts a terrible strain on a soft-hearted fellow like 
me; but I’ve been trying my level best lately. I 
have, indeed.” 

^^Well, your lessons show it,” said Sue warmly. 
She was beginning to feel a real liking for Dick 
Julian now that he was trying so hard to please 
Mr. Hermon, and she added, with a glow in her 
eyes, That was a first-rate translation you had 
Monday.” 

“Well, it ought to be,” said Dick, with obvious 
gratification. “I stayed home from church Sun- 
day, and worked on it all the morning.” 

The glow in Sue’s eyes changed to a stare of 
blank amazement. The look she had given him 


DICK MAKES A CALL. 


235 


that night at the party when he intimated his in- 
difference to a college education was nothing to 
this. 

On Sunday f ” she repeated incredulously. 

You don’t mean to say you studied it on 
Sunday ? ” 

^^Why yeSj I did/’ said Dick, beginning to 
redden. I hope you don’t think there is any- 
thing so very dreadful in that.” 

Sue did not speak for a moment. Then she said 
slowly, I think I’d rather fail completely in a 
lesson of mim than learn it Sunday.” 

‘^Yoiid rather fail?” repeated Dick. ^^Well, 
that is putting it strong. But come now,” he 
went on, squaring himself in his chair, and begin- 
ning to look rather combative, I’d like to know 
what harm there is anyway in getting a lesson on 
Sunday. I don’t mean every Sunday. I wouldn’t 
go in for it as a steady thing, but now and then, 
you know, when you’re in a tight place.” 

If it’s ever right, I don’t see why it isn’t 
always right,” said Sue. ^^It’s the principle of 
the thing. Sunday wasn’t meant for work. It 
was meant for rest.” 

Oh, but works of necessity and mercy,” cried 


236 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


Dick. Everybody makes allowance for them, 
and my studying last Sunday was both — necessity 
for me and mercy for Mr. Hermon. You know 
yourself how he feels when I fail.’’ 

Sue frowned a little. The subject struck her as 
quite too serious for jesting. You’ll have to 
prove it was a necessity first,” she said, and as 
for its being a kindness to Mr. Hermon, don’t you 
think he’d feel troubled if he knew when you 
learned it ? ” 

The last question was a home thrust. Dick 
dropped his head for a minute. ^‘Well, he is 
rather strict in his views about Sunday,” he ad- 
mitted ; I shouldn’t exactly like to tell him. But 
as to the necessity, honor bright, I had to do it. It 
was that or failure, and of the two evils, I thought 
studying was the least. I tell you, you can’t 
always keep that commandment about resting on 
Sunday.” 

It’s pretty hard to keep half of any command- 
ment,” observed Miss Graham. You’d better 
make up your mind to keep the whole of it, or 
not pretend to be keeping it at all.” 

Even Sue looked a little puzzled, and Miss 
Graham went on. Did it ever occur to you that 


DICK MAKES A CALL. 


237 


one very important part of that commandment, 
and the part on which all that follows is based, is 
‘Six days shalt thou labor f ’ God didn’t tell 
people to rest till after he had distinctly told them 
to work, and a person who hasn’t done a good 
honest week’s work isn’t entitled to a rest-day, 
anyhow. If he has done it, he’s done enough, 
and is not only entitled, but in duty bound — in 
duty to himself, I say — to rest a bit and get a 
fresh start.” 

The bright little spot which sometimes came in 
Miss Graham’s cheeks when she was very much 
in earnest had come now. The young people were 
all silent. Somehow, even the Orcutt girls had 
never thought of it in just this way before. 

I’m not a preacher,” she went on, but I’m 
a working woman, and perhaps I’ve earned the 
right to say a word about Sunday. I know what 
a rest-day is worth to tired folks, and I want to 
do all I can to keep it safe for them. Besides, 
I’m almost old enough to be your mother, and I 
do hate to see young folks getting off the track 
and making mistakes on a simple thing like this. 
Let’s be real honest now about this thing we call 
necessity. Dick, did you really take the time you 


238 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


might for your studying on Saturday, or did you 
go off coasting and let the work go by till 
Sunday ? ” 

I guess you’ve hit it about right,” said Dick 
soberly. 

^^Well, then, you broke the first part of the 
commandment, and that’s just what got you into 
trouble with the last part. Of course I know there 
is work that comes of necessity on Sunday, but 
necessity’s a stiff old word and not half elastic 
enough to cover all the things we try to shove 
under it — the things, for instance, that might 
just as well be done before Sunday comes.” 

But don’t you think it makes Sunday an 
awfully rigid sort of day if you can’t work a little, 
even when you want to ? ” said Dick. And I 
suppose you think it’s just as bad to play as to 
work on Sunday. It does seem to me as if a 
body ought to have a little choice. ^ The Sabbath 
was made for man,’ you know,” he added impres- 
sively. 

Miss Graham’s eyes twinkled for a moment. 
^^My dear young friend,” she said, give you 
my word for it that if you work as hard as you 
ought to six days in the week, you won’t have 


DICK MAKES A CALL. 


239 


any raging desire to work on Sunday, and as for 
that poor, abused little text, well, a body might 
ask what a man ^s, anyway. If he’s only a 
machine made for grinding out work, why, let 
him keep at it if he wants to. Even a machine 
will wear out too soon if you run it all the time 
without stopping, but if it’s only a machine, why, 
no matter. 

And then again,” her eyes lost the twinkle 
and grew very serious, if a man is only a sort 

of animal whose chief end in life is to eat and 

drink and be as merry as he can, why, let him 

rollic as he likes on Sunday. But if he really is 

something grander than that, if God meant him 
to be when He made him in His own image, then 
the question is worth considering what sort of a 
use of Sunday will help him most.” 

She paused, and Dick turned upon her with a 
sudden question. Miss Graham, do you think 
it always helps people to go to church? I don’t 
think it helps me a bit when old Mr. Tookey 
preaches. He never says one interesting thing, 
and I’m sure it would do me a sight more good 
to get off into the woods.” 

Miss Graham shook her head. 


^^Now I’m not 


240 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


going to try to tell you or anybody else just what 
you ought to do on Sunday. It’s quite enough to 
get it settled for myself. But I will say this, 
that the very best folks I’ve known — and I’ve 
known a sight of folks — were those that had a 
steady habit of going to church, and didn’t let 
anything but real honest necessity keep them 
away. We don’t go there to worship the min- 
ister, — thank the Lord for that, — and most of 
us are made so that it really does help us to be 
in the place where other people with needs like 
our own have met on Sunday, and the thought of 
God and the prayer for his help go out in definite 
words. 

remember when I was a child and was made 
to go to church by my father and mother, I 
thought sometimes that when I was old enough 
to do as I pleased, I’d stay away. But, bless 
your hearts, when it came to that, I had gotten 
into such a habit of going that I couldn’t stop, — 
at least, not and feel comfortable about it, — and 
I’m glad I couldn’t. It’s been a help to me all 
my life.” 

She broke off with a smile. Well, I’ve been 
giving you a regular sermon. You can take it, 


DICK MAKES A CALL. 


241 


Dick, in place of the one you lost last Sunday. 
I don’t feel a bit sorry for you, but it’s a double 
dose for the girls, and I’ll stop right now. You 
might take this, though, for a finish. It’s an old- 
fashioned rhyme that I learned when I was a girl. 

Sabbath, well spent 
Brings a week of content 
And strength for the toils of the morrow; 

But a Sabbath profaned, 

Whatsoever be gained, 

Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.’ 

Dick rose with a little bow. ^^I shan’t forget 
it, nor the sermon either,” he said quite seri- 
ously. 

You’d better stay and have some apples and 
chestnuts,” said Bertha. “ The chestnuts are 
roasting in the oven, and I think they’re just 
done.” 

The delicious odor which came from the oven 
as she opened the door quite settled the matter, 
and Dick finished his call with a little treat, 
which he warmly pronounced of a ^^way up sort.” 
On the whole, the half-hour passed so pleasantly 
that in spite of the disgrace into which he was 
afraid he had fallen with his little classmate, he 


242 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


could not help hoping she would ask him to come 
again. She did not do it, however, and Dick 
reflected rather ruefully, as he walked away, that 
he would have to scrape up another errand ’’ if 
he came a second time. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


SUE RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT. 

T was a few days after this that an event 



occurred, slight in itself, but so important in 
its bearing on Sue Orcutt’s fortunes, that the 
faithful historian could in nowise be excused, if 
it failed to go down in full in the annals of 
this winter at Merton Academy. Ever since that 
night at Alma Lynn’s party, the girl had brooded 
with an intense longing over the thought of a 
visit to Mr. Hermon. A few evenings later, she 
had, indeed, made the attempt to see him ; but, 
as ill-luck would have it, he was not at home, 
and the old timidity somehow crept back upon 
her as the distance widened between her and 
that genial occasion. She began to feel, however, 
that the time was growing short, and to fear 
that some untoward fate might actually prevent 
her having the pleasure at all, unless she secured 
it soon. 


243 


244 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


It was one morning, just at the close of 
the Cicero class, that the longing shaped itself 
suddenly into a definite resolution. 

Her own recitation, which was the last of the 
hour, had been unusually fine, and the look with 
which Mr. Hermon rewarded her, had given the 
thought of spending an hour in his society a 
charm even beyond the ordinary. I believe I’ll 
stop right now, and ask him if he’s going to be 
at home this evening,” she said to herself, “ and 
if he is. I’ll ask if I may come to see him. 
That would be the straightforward way, and I 
don’t believe I could stand it to go there again 
and not find him at home.” 

She lingered a little for her classmates to pass 
from the room, and her eyes were bright with 
expectation, as she stepped towards the desk. 
Before she had quite reached it, however, a child 
of about seven years, a pretty little fellow, 
stepped briskly in with a note, which he was 
evidently in haste to deliver to Mr. Hermon. 

The boys of the class nodded at him with an 
air of easy acquaintance, and Sue herself remem- 
bered that it was not the first time she had seen 
him. There were, in fact, a score or more of 


SUE RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT. 245 

attractive-looking children, with whose appear- 
ance the Academy students usually became quite 
familiar. They had a school of their own, in 
a room at the rear of the Academy, which had 
been used by the students themselves in the 
palmy days of that institution, but which, in its 
present decline as to numbers, could be spared 
with melancholy ease. It was a school of its 
own sort, not a kindergarten (that system was 
as yet but little known in rural villages), and 
not a primary school either of quite the ordi- 
nary sort. It was a private affair, supported by 
a dozen or more well-to-do families, who pre- 
ferred for their children shorter hours and a 
somewhat more elastic system than the graded 
schools of the town permitted ; and Mr. Hermon 
had been persuaded, after much demurring, to 
take it under his fatherly jurisdiction, partly 
because of the importunity of its patrons, and 
partly because he could never be really indiffer- 
ent to anything which was going on under the 
Academy roof. He was rather fond of the chil- 
dren, though if he could have turned them out 
of their usurped corner, and supplied their places 
with a room full of Academy students, he would 


246 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


have done it in an instant, and without a twinge 
of compunction. In fact, he looked upon the 
little school, from term to term, as a merely 
temporary thing, — an opinion of his, which, 
though its patrons did not in the least share, 
they wisely allowed to remain undisputed. 

It was one of these juvenile occupants of the 
Academy, who, while Sue waited for a chance to 
speak with Mr. Hermon, stepped suddenly up 
before her. 

Ha, Teddy ! ” said Mr. Hermon, with a smile 
at the rosy young face. And then he frowned 
suddenly, as his eyes fell on the note, the contents 
of which he apparently anticipated. 

Hm,” he grunted, when he had glanced it 
hastily through. So your teacher’s sick again, 
and wants to know if she may dismiss you. I 
don’t like this business. I don’t like it at all.” 

The child had evidently seen the great man 
frown before, for he did not flinch. He stood in 
his place, looking quietly expectant. 

You like it, I suppose,” said Mr. Hermon ; 
^^you little fellows would be glad to play all the 
time ; but it won’t do, my lad ; no, it won’t do. 
If you fall into such idle ways now, you won’t 


SUE RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT. 247 

know how to study when you get in here. Perhaps 
you won’t get in here at all/’ he added grimly. 

The child really looked a little troubled, and 
Dick Julian, who was passing at the moment^ 
whispered, giving him a friendly tweak, Tell you 
what, Teddy, you don’t want to miss that ! It’s 
awful good fun studying Greek and Latin.” 

^^No,” pursued Mr. Hermon, his frown deepen- 
ing, don’t like this business. You’ve had two 
holidays already in the last two weeks, and we 
must put a stop to it.” 

For a minute he seemed to be considering in 
some perplexity what he had better do, then sud- 
denly his eyes fell on Sue Orcutt, and his face 
brightened with the gleam of a new idea. 

Miss Orcutt,” he exclaimed, bending towards 
her with one of his quick, sharp glances, why 
can’t you go in and take Miss Dearborn’s place 
this morning ? They have only a half-day 
session, and you would lose no recitation but the 
chemistry. I presume you have prepared that 
lesson already.” 

Sue opened her eyes in astonishment. I 
never taught school in my life,” she said, think- 
ing he must be under some misapprehension. 


248 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


That makes no difference,” he said half 
impatiently. ^‘Yon’ll get along all right,” and he 
gave her one of his short, emphatic nods, which 
always seemed to imply that there was absolutely 
nothing to be said on the other side of the 
question; after which, however, he had the grace 
to add, ‘^1 should consider it a personal favor if 
you would go.” 

That settled it, whether his opinion of her 
ability did or not. I’ll try my best, sir,” she 
said earnestly. She waited a moment longer, half 
hoping he would accompany her and introduce 
her to the greatness thus suddenly thrust upon 
her, but apparently he did not consider it in the 
least necessary. The child, however, who had 
been looking at her intently, slipped his hand 
into hers, and they walked off together. 

The way to the children’s room was around the 
outside of the building, the door which connected 
it with the rest of the interior being in these 
days kept scrupulously locked. It had been 
originally only a class-room, but had been of late 
years enlarged and fitted up by the patrons of 
the school in a way to give it a most attractive 
appearance. The children, fourteen in number 


SUE RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT, 249 

(as Sue afterward counted them), looked up from 
their books, as she entered behind her little 
guide, and regarded her with evident surprise. A 
young lady on the platform, who looked ill and 
really unfit to be there, apparently shared their 
feeling. Sue did not wait for her to speak 

first. 

^^Mr. Hermon asked me to come and take your 
place this morning,” she said, stepping quickly 
towards her. He thought that would be better 
than to give up the school entirely.” 

The young lady bowed, but looked as if she 

felt slightly annoyed. I’m sure I’m much 

obliged,” she murmured ; then turning to her 

pupils, she said, I hope you’ll all be very good, 
and not give your new teacher any trouble.” 

The severity of the headache from which she 
was suffering was doubtless responsible for her 
forgetting to give the young substitute any direc- 
tions for the morning’s work, and Sue herself was 
too much embarrassed to remember that she needed 
any. She felt more at ease when, after wishing 
her a polite good morning, the teacher in ordinary 
passed out and she was left alone with her charge. 
The children looked amiable, but a touch of disap- 


250 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


pointment was visible on all their faces, and Sue’s 
quick eyes noted it at once. 

Children,” she said in her impulsive way, I 
don’t believe you like my coming at all, and I 
can’t say I blame you. I’m sure if Mr. Hermon 
were ill some morning, and we had to take some- 
body else in his place, I shouldn’t like it one bit. 
But he knows what is best, — he always does, of 
course, — and he sent me to do what I could to 
help you this forenoon. It really is better to 
study awhile and play afterwards, you know, for 
it makes playing seem so much nicer. I think we 
shall get along all right, and have a good time to- 
gether, but of course you’ll have to tell me how 
you do things, because I don’t know anything 
about it.” 

It is doubtful whether Mr. Hermon could have 
introduced her in a manner which would have been 
half as effective. The children’s faces brightened 
in an instant, and they turned to their books, with 
the obvious intention of doing their best to make 
her effort a success. 

She had made one mistake, however, as she 
presently found to her grief. In intimating a 
desire for advice on the part of the children, she 


SUE RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT. 25 I 

had inspired each and every one with a feeling of 
responsibility for offering it at once and in sur- 
prisingly large quantities. The eagerness with 
which they proceeded to tell her how things were 
done, and the conflict of opinion which arose over 
every detail, would have involved her little king- 
dom in utter confusion if she had not speedily 
come to her own relief and decided to act accord- 
ing to her individual judgment. After this things 
moved beautifully. 

One after another the classes were called and 
the recitations heard, but the filling in of the time 
was what troubled Sue most. It seemed to her 
she had never known such ridiculously short les- 
sons, and the number of pupils in each class was 
so small, that when the knowledge of each had 
been tested over and over, the unused moments 
still hung heavily on her hands. She had an in- 
stinctive notion that the way to keep children 
quiet and happy in school-time was to keep them 
busy, a corner-stone of doctrine, by the way, on 
which some older educators would do well to build ; 
but the difficulty of knowing what these new 
acquaintances of hers could do, or how, in her 
ignorance, to set them at it, was decidedly puzzling. 


252 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


It still lacked half an hour of noon when the 
last lesson was called, but fortunately it was a 
reading lesson, and this at least afforded some 
chance for expansion. Fortunately, too, the lesson 
was that familiar story, beloved of children, which 
records the adventure of Silverhair and the Bears, 
and it would have been a duller girl than Sue 
Orcutt who could have found nothing to say to 
those bright-faced boys and girls in connection 
with a story like that. A little adroit questioning 
brought out a deal of eager knowledge on their 
part concerning bears, and it was probably the 
friendliness of feeling excited by recollections of 
zoological gardens and mild-eyed bruins, who had 
climbed trees or sat at the door of picturesque 
little dens and fed on peanuts, which made Teddy 
Ranger (the child who had acted as Sue’s escort) 
burst out suddenly with a startling question. 

I d-don’t think it was quite f-fair for Silver- 
hair to eat up the little bear’s supper and break 
d-down his chair, do you?” he exclaimed, leaning 
forward with stuttering eagerness. 

Sue’s face flashed with an instant delight. It 
had occurred to her before that the bright-haired 
little meddler of the story had really behaved in 


SUE RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT. 253 

a quite unscrupulous manner, and the child’s ques- 
tion acted as a sudden spark to an imagination 
which was always easily kindled. 

^^Well, I do think ’twas pretty hard on the 
little bear, Teddy,” she said, ‘^and I shouldn’t 
wonder a bit if he got even with her afterwards. 
In fact ” — she dropped her head for a minute 
with the look of a person who is thinking intently 
— believe there’s another part to this story, 
only it isn’t in the book.” 

Do you know it ? Do you know it ? ” ex- 
claimed half-a-dozen voices in concert. 

I believe I do know a little of it,” she said, 
reflecting. 

By this time every child in the room was on 
the alert, and several had crowded round her chair, 
which she had set down from the platform, feeling 
that it raised her quite too high above the common 
level. 

^^You must give me a minute to think,” she 
said, as she had said a hundred times to the 
little girls at home when they called on her for 
a story. And presently, with no more constraint 
than she would have felt if she had really been 
in that familiar circle, she began. 


254 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


^^You see the little bear felt very unhappy that 
night. He had no supper, for, as you know, Sil- 
verhair had eaten his all up. Of course the great 
bear and the middle-sized bear offered him some 
of their porridge, but he didn’t like it any better 
than Silverhair did, so he had to make out as 
best he could with a crust of bread. Then, too, 
he had nothing to sit down on, for Silverhair had 
broken the bottom out of his chair. So he had 
to stand on his hind legs all the time he . was 
eating, and that of course wasn’t very pleasant. 

^^All at once he broke out with a queer little 
growl, say, let’s watch our chance to get into 
Silverhair’s house when she’s away, and let’s eat 
up her supper and break down her chair, and see 
how shell like it.’ ” 

The children’s eyes grew so large at this as- 
tounding proposal that the story-teller felt it 
necessary to pause and throw in a little apology 
for the irate young bruin. 

^^Of course,” she said, ^^you and I know that 
we always ought to return good for evil, but 
bears don’t go to Sunday school, and that makes 
the difference. They never heard the golden rule 
in their lives, and the only song they know is 


SUE RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT. 255 

that good old hymn that says, ^ Let bears and 
lions growl and fight, For ’tis their nature to.’ 

So of course the little bear thought revenge 
was all right, and the others did too. The great 
bear patted him on the head with his huge brown 
paw and said, ^ This is a bright cub of ours.’ 
And the middle-sized bear added, ^ He’ll be a 
great bear some day. See if he isn’t ! ’ 

Then they put their heads together and decided 
that the very next morning they would hunt for 
Silverhair’s house, and get in, if they could, and 
pay her back for all the mischief she had done. 

They did not forget, you may be sure of that. 
The little bear dreamed about it all night, sleep- 
ing in the bed where she had taken her nap, and 
as soon as they had eaten their breakfast the 
next morning off they went. But they had to be 
very careful in going, for there was a prejudice 
against bears in that part of the country, and they 
had to skulk in the bushes and keep out of sight 
as much as possible. 

^^It was afternoon before they found the house, 
a little brown cottage in the edge of the woods; 
but they knew it was the right one, for there was 
Silverhair herself climbing a tree to peep into a 


256 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS, 


woodpecker nest. The door was open, and they 
could have rushed in as well as not, but they 
saw Silverhair’s mother sitting by the window, and 
they were afraid they might disturb her ; so they 
crept back into the bushes and waited in hopes 
that she would go away. 

^^And sure enough, just as the sun was going 
down, and the bears were getting most dreadfully 
hungry, Silverhair’s mother came out of the house 
with her bonnet on. 

^ Come, Silverhair,’ she said ; ^ it’s almost time 
for supper. Let us go and call your father 
home.’ 

Then she shut the door behind her, and the 
two walked off together, but they never thought 
to put the windows down, and one of them was 
left wide open. 

^ Now’s our chance ! ’ cried the three bears, and 
they scrambled out of the bushes and ran to the 
house as fast as ever they could. 

half starved,’ cried the great bear, as he 
climbed in at the window. ^ Hope they’ve got 
something nice for supper. A good fat sheep or 
a fine large deer would suit me.’ 

^ Or a couple of tender young calves,’ said the 


SUE RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT. 257 

middle-sized bear. ^ We won’t leave a bone for 
Silverhair.’ 

Here’s the supper all ready now/ cried the 
little bear, and he pushed a door open into a room 
where there was a table set for three. It was not 
at all the kind of a supper they had wanted, and 
the faces of the old bears fell ; but there was a dish 
of custard on the table that looked a little like 
porridge, and they thought they could eat that at 
least. The great bear and the middle-sized bear 
stuck their noses in together, but they pulled them 
out again the next minute. 

^ It’s too sweet,’ said the great bear with a dis- 
contented grunt. 

^^^It’s too sour,’ said the middle-sized bear with 
another grunt. 

^^^It’s just right!’ cried the little bear, and he 
drank it all up in a minute. 

Then they noticed a plate of buns, and decided 
to try how those would taste ; but the great bear 
threw his on the floor after taking a single bite. 

^ They’re worse seasoned than the porridge,’ he 
growled, and the middle-sized bear added, ^ They’re 
not properly baked either. The crust doesn’t go 
half-way through.’ 


258 THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 

^ They’re just right ! ’ said the little bear again, 
and he ate every one without stopping. 

^ Let us get out of this place/ growled the two 
old bears ; ^ there’s nothing we want here.’ 

must find Silverhair’s chair first/ said the 
little bear, and he led the way into another room, 
which was the strangest place they had ever seen. 
The floor felt like moss under their feet, and there 
were chairs of all sorts, — straight chairs and rock- 
ing-chairs, stuffed chairs and willow chairs. 

^^ The great bear sat down in the biggest chair of 
all, but he jumped up again with a very wry face. 
^ That’s a dreadful chair,’ he growled. ‘ It makes 
me sick to go swinging back and forth like that.’ 

The middle-sized bear had sat down in a stuffed 
sleepy-hollow, but she too jumped up again in a 
hurry. ^ Dear me ! ’ she howled, ^ I thought I 
was going clear through.’ 

The little bear had climbed into a beautiful red 
high-chair, and it suited him exactly. ^ It’s the 
best chair of all,’ he said, leaning back. ^ I guess 
I’ll take it to pay for the one Silverhair broke.’ 

At that very instant what should they hear but 
a sound of steps coming into the house, and in 
another moment there was a clamor of voices from 


SUE RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT. 259 

the room where the table was set. ^Somebody’s 
been and eaten up our supper ! ’ they all cried 
together. 

Then a great voice roared, ^ Thieves ! thieves ! ’ 
and a middle-sized voice screamed, ^Tramps! 
tramps ! ’ and a wee, small voice cried, ^ The hears ! 
the hears ! ’ The last was the voice of Silverhair 
herself, and there she stood in the door-way, look- 
ing right straight at them. 

“ The bears did not wait to hear any more, but 
jumped out of the window and made off as fast as 
they could. The little bear was last, climbing out 
with Silverhair’ s chair in his arms, when he heard 
the great voice say something about a gun, and he 
dropped the chair and got down on all fours. As 
it dropped, he was sure he heard something break, 
but he had no time to stop and examine it. He 
ran for dear life, and none of the three slackened 
their pace till they were all safe in the den, with 
the door fast bolted behind them.” 

The children drew a long breath. Teddy Ranger 
found his voice first. Well,” he said, I guess 
the bears didn’t go back to that house again very 

I ” 

soon ! 

And I guess Silverhair didn’t want to go to 


26 o 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


their house either ! ” said a sweet little girl, who 
was leaning on Sue’s lap. 

No,” laughed the story-teller. I guess they 
all concluded to stay in their own places and not 
meddle with other people’s things.” 

She heard a sort of chuckle behind her at that 
moment, and turning suddenly saw Mr. Theophi- 
lus Herrnon. He had entered quietly by the inner 
door, the key of which he carried in his own 
pocket, and in the absorption of the story neither 
she nor her audience had seen him. She started 
from her chair now, her face the color of a full- 
blown peony. 

Oh, Mr. Herrnon,” she said, in a flutter of 
embarrassment, the children had recited all their 
lessons, and I really didn’t know what to do to 
use up the time.” 

You seem to have found a very satisfactory 
way,” he said, his eyes twinkling with the utmost 
good humor ; ^‘1 must say I rather enjoyed that 
story myself. Where did you get it?” 

Sue’s color grew, if possible, a shade deeper, and 
he guessed the truth in a moment. “Was it 
really your own, and quite impromptu ? ” he asked, 
with one of his sharp glances. 


SUE RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT. 26 1 


She met his eyes for a moment, and then dropped 
them with a fresh embarrassment. It was a 
question from one of the children that started me 
off, and I really couldn’t help it,” she said in a 
low voice. 

The twelve o’clock bell struck at that moment, 
and the noise of the pupils putting away their 
books called her attention back to her little 
school. She dismissed them with a cheerful good 
by, which did not, however, prevent several of 
the children from lingering to ask if she were 
coming back the next day, and somehow her con- 
fident assurance that the regular teacher would be 
in her place did not seem to have an exhilarating 
effect upon their spirits. 

When they were all gone, she turned again to 
Mr. Hermon, who was still standing in the room. 
She had forgotten, in the excitement of the last 
two hours, the purpose which had taken her to 
his desk that morning, but it came back to her 
now with a sudden remembrance. 

Mr. Hermon,” she said, the quick, bright color 
leaping into her face again, ^^when I stopped to 
speak with you after class, I meant to ask you a 
a question. I meant to ask if I might come to 


262 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


see you for a little while this evening. You spoke 
to me once about coming, and I have wanted to 
ever since.” 

^^Well, and why haven’t you done it?” he de- 
manded, smiling and frowning at her in the same 
moment; ^‘if I remember correctly, it was some 
time ago that I laid that injunction upon you, and 
you ought to have minded me better than this.” 

I did go one evening,” she said, “ but you 
were away, and — ” 

Well, I shall be at home this evening,” he in- 
terrupted, with one of his imperative little nods, 
^^and I shall expect to see you without fail. 
It’s high time you and I were getting better 
acquainted.” 

He opened the door again, and she walked by 
his side back to the front of the Academy. For 
her own part, she had not quite recovered from 
the embarrassment of his hearing that little story 
which was only designed for the ears of the chil- 
dren, but she consoled herself with the thought that 
he could not have been much displeased, or he 
would not treat her now with such special kind- 


ness. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


IN MR. HERMON’s study. 

rriHE lessons for the next day were learned 
before supper that evening, and at as early 
an hour as propriety would allow, Sue set off for 
the long-anticipated call. Bertha did not offer to 
accompany her. She had an instinctive feeling 
that Sue would rather make that call alone, but 
even she, shrewd reader of her sister’s heart as 
she was, had no idea how that heart throbbed 
with excitement and longing as its owner walked 
towards Mr. Hermon’s house. Sue could not have 
explained it herself, but the eccentric, irascible 
principal of Merton Academy had somehow roused 
all her latent capacity for hero-worship, and be- 
come himself the hero at whose shrine she wor- 
shipped with a devotion of a silent but most 
intense sort. 

He lived several blocks beyond the Academy, 
in a white, old-fashioned house, well back from 
the street, with porch and pillars of the Grecian 

263 


264 the orcutt girls. 

order. It was a house which Sue had inwardly 
pronounced just the thing for Mr. Hermon the 
first time she saw it, and to-night, with the cer- 
tainty that he was inside, somewhere behind those 
twinkling windows, the building seemed more than 
ever to have a quality identical with his own. 
A sweet-faced lady, hardly yet in middle life, an- 
swered Sue’s ring, and the girl was not wrong in 
guessing her to be the unmarried niece who, for 
some years, had acted as the keeper of Mr. Her- 
mon’s house. Mr. Hermon himself had no family. 
Death had long ago robbed him of his wife and 
only child, and it was whispered, by those who 
knew him best, that the absorption of his life in 
Merton Academy was largely due to the grief for 
which he could find no solace but work, even with 
the lengthening years. 

He was in his study, and to this Sue was con- 
ducted at once by the sweet-faced lady, who seemed 
to know that she was expected, though the energy 
with which she knocked at his door, alarmed the 
young visitor for a moment with the fear that he 
was being aroused out of a profound sleep. His 
own appearance in response, however, smiling and 
wide awake, reassured her. 


IN MR. HERMONS STUDY. 


265 


Ah/’ he said, beaming upon Sue. Come in ! 
come in ! I hoped you’d be here early. I’m glad 
you didn’t forget.” 

Forget ! If he had known how little possibility 
there was of her forgetting ! Sue smiled inwardly 
at the thought, and took the great leather chair 
before the fire which he offered her, feeling alto- 
gether speechless. 

He had evidently been writing, for his pen was 
in his hand, and he remarked the next moment, 
throwing himself into a place at the table, Now 
it’ll take me about three minutes to finish this 
letter; after that we’ll talk.” 

He seemed as unconscious of her presence the 
next instant as if she had not been there, and Sue 
(for that very reason, perhaps) began to feel her- 
self quite at home. The room itself conduced to 
the feeling. It was lined with books. Never ex- 
cept in the library at the Academy had she seen 
so many in one place, but the rows, which were 
there compact from floor to ceiling, stopped here 
midway of the wall, and above them were engrav- 
ings of famous men and places, sculpture in photo- 
graphs, and occasionally a marble bust or bit of 
bronze. The furniture was mostly in leather, of 


266 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


the easiest pattern, and worn to an expression 
of the most complete friendliness, and the final 
touch of good cheer was given to the room by an 
open fire which curled in an enchanting manner 
round a hickory log in a wide, old-fashioned fire- 
place at one corner. 

Sue’s glance, starting with this fire, wandered 
back to it in a slow circuit of delight, and she 
said to herself, that if ever that castle in Spain, 
of which she dreamed sometimes, took tangible 
shape, its dearest room should be a place exactly 
like this. She had time now to lift her eyes 
above the fire, and she started the next moment 
at the sight of the picture which hung there, in 
the ruddy light. It was the same which she had 
seen in the poet’s corner at the library, that won- 
derful young face, with the sweet, serious smile, 
and the deep, beautiful eyes, which seemed always 
to follow and impel one to his best and truest 
thought. She had wondered over it from the first, 
but no one whom she had yet asked had been 
able to tell her whose picture it was, and she re- 
flected, with a sudden delight, that now at last 
she could learn from Mr. Hermon himself. 

The three minutes were up, but he was still 


IN MR. HERMONS STUDY. 


267 


writing, at what seemed to her a lightning speed, 
with his pen stuck between his second and third 
fingers, and his head bent over his paper. She 
liked to watch him, and she almost laughed out- 
right with pleasure, when he smiled once, in evi- 
dent glee over something he was putting down. 
It was a trick of her own, for which she had been 
subjected to no little ridicule on the part of her 
sisters, but she decided she would never be 
ashamed of it again. Why indeed should not 
one smile as cordially at the bright idea which 
comes into his own head as at that which comes 
into somebody's else ? Modesty ? Pshaw, mere 
affectation ! She would have none of it after this. 

She had just held this little colloquy with her- 
self when Mr. Hermon paused in his writing. 
The next instant, somewhat to her horror, he 
wiped his pen on the lining of his gown. The 
lining fortunately was black, and it occurred to 
Sue that if he was in the habit of utilizing it for 
such purposes the color might have been selected 
with design. The next instant he was wheeling 
his chair toward hers. 

^^Well, are you getting tired of waiting?” he 
asked, smiling. never like to lay down a letter 


268 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS, 


till I have finished it. Tying knots in the thread 
of one’s discourse is always bad enough, but it 
spoils a letter. Don’t break it ofi till you come 
to the end. That’s my rule.” 

He clasped his great hands behind his head, 
leaned back, and regarding her with a fatherly 
smile, changed the subject with a, Well, how goes 
the Latin ? ” 

Oh, I don’t have any trouble with it nowa- 
days, — at least, not any worth mentioning,” she 
said quickly. really think I could get longer 
lessons than you give us.” 

He nodded approvingly. I knew it would be 
easy enough for you before the term was over,” 
he said; and he added gravely, That’s the ^exceed- 
ing great reward ’ for doing one’s work faithfully. 
It increases the power of the doer. It makes it pos- 
sible for him to do constantly more and more.” 

It was not a new idea, but somehow Sue heard 
it with a peculiar thrill. She mused over it with- 
out attempting a reply, and for a minute Mr. 
Hermon too seemed lost in the train of his own 
thinking. It was she who interrupted the silence 
suddenly with the question over which she had so 
lately been puzzling. 


IN MR. HERMON'S STUDY. 


269 


Mr. Hermon/’ she said in her quick, eager 
way, ^^will you please tell me whose picture that 
is over the mantel ? The same picture is in the 
poets’ corner at the library, and I’ve wondered 
over it so many times.” 

He started, and looked at her for a moment 
with an expression so sharp and almost painful 
in its surprise that she felt disturbed, she scarcely 
knew why, and added with a little flush, It 
seems as if I ought to know myself who it is, for 
I’m sure it must be one of the poets, but I can’t 
remember seeing it in any book.” She hesitated 
a moment and added, It is such a beautiful 
face ! It seems as if I could never look at it 
enough.” 

Her eyes were on the picture as she spoke, but 
she turned them, as she ended, towards Mr. Her- 
mon, and was shocked at the change which had 
come over his face. It had broken suddenly into 
an agony of grief and inexpressible longing. 

Yes,” he said, seeming to speak not so much 
to her as to himself, he xoas a poet, but one 
whose name the world had yet to learn.” He 
gazed at the picture as if oblivious of everything 
else, and in a strange, low voice murmured: 


270 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS, 


^‘Oh, child of Paradise, 

Boy who made dear his father’s home, 

In whose deep eyes 

Men read the welfare of the years to come, 

I am too much bereft. 

The world dishonored thou hast left. 

Oh, richest fortune sourly crossed! 

Born for the future, to the future lost ! ” 

She but half understood the lines, but she un- 
derstood now, and with a shock of intense sur- 
prise, that the picture could be of no other than 
that only child, the boy whom she had heard 
mentioned as lost to his father so long before. 
The tears rushed suddenly into her eyes, and she 
caught her breath with a sob she could not repress. 

Oh,” she said, as the man beside her turned 
at the sound, I never dreamed when I asked 
the question — ” 

“ No, no,” he interrupted, the anguish of his 
face melting into a look inexpressibly sad and ten- 
der; ^^you need not regret your question. There 
is no reason why I should not tell you that the 
face is the face of my son. He had but a few 
years here, less than you have had already, but 
our lives had woven themselves so completely to- 


IN MR. HERMONS STUDY, 


271 


gether, that there was nothing left me worth the 
name when he died. He was a rare, high soul, a 
poet soul, and if he had lived — ” he broke sud- 
denly off with the old sharp note of anguish in 
his voice, then added solemnly, ^‘But he does live. 
Why do I speak of him as dead?” 

For a few minutes there was only the crackling 
of the flames round the hickory log to disturb the 
silence, then Mr. Hermon spoke again, and the 
fatherly smile had come back to his eyes, as he 
said, drawing his chair closer to hers, Tell me 
all about your coming to the Academy ; I fancy 
it was not quite the easy thing for you that it is 
for some of the students.” 

Sue’s face lighted, and her eyes shone through 
her tears. Her heart had gone out to him so 
completely in the last few minutes that there was 
no sense of restraint left, and as easily, more 
easily perhaps, than she could have talked to her 
own father, she told him how the hope of coming 
had lain in her heart and Bertha’s long before it 
had shaped itself into a tangible plan; how they 
had worked in the corset shop to earn the money, 
and of the economies and self-denials which had 
been practised by, all the circle at home to aid 


272 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


their purpose. An interested question now and 
then drew her on, and Mr. Theophilus Hermon 
would not have been the discerning man he was 
if he had not understood, long before the story 
was finished, just what sort of a girl Sue Orcutt 
was, and what sort of a home and influences were 
back of her. 

Well, and has it paid?’’ he asked with a 
quiet smile, as she ended. 

^^Paid!” she exclaimed, looking at him almost 
reproachfully. Oh, a thousand times over. Peo- 
ple say there is more pleasure in anticipating 
things than in actually having them, but it isn’t 
true. Oh, I know it isn’t true. I never expected 
to enjoy the term one half as much as I really 
have. Why, Mr. Hermon, just to have been in 
your class alone has been better than all I ever 
dreamed of ! ” 

It is hardly possible that Mr. Theophilus Her- 
mon was ignorant of the very remarkable quality 
of his own teaching, but the most eminent in- 
structor in the world must have felt a thrill of 
pleasure at a tribute of appreciation given in such 
a tone, and with such a look as shone in Sue 
Orcutt’ s eyes at that moment. Perhaps, indeed, 


IN MR. HERMON’S STUDY. 


273 


the principal of Merton Academy valued it the 
more that it was the honest, unsought tribute of 
one whose insight had been gained through her 
own simple faithfulness as a pupil. 

She was silent for a moment, from mere ful- 
ness of heart, then she added, her voice dropping 
a little, The only thing that keeps me from 
being perfectly happy here, is the thought that 
I can only stay one term.” 

Is that quite settled ? ” he exclaimed, leaning 
forward and looking at her with an expression 
almost as eager as her own had been. Would 
it be impossible if special accommodation should 
be given as to tuition? In the economical way 
you live, your expenses must be light, and your 
parents, who have your education so much at 
heart, would surely be willing to make further 
sacrifices for the sake of your staying longer. It 
would be a serious loss for you to stop now.” 

Oh, father and mother are willing to do every- 
thing possible,” cried Sue quickly, ^^but they 
couldn’t spare the money, indeed they couldn’t, 
with all the expenses that have to be met on the 
farm in spring! And the money that Bertha and 
I earned will be all gone. We shall have to stay 


2 74 the orcutt girls. 

out and earn some more. It is the only way. 
But if we have good success, we can come back in 
the fall. I can stand anything for the sake 
of that.” 

She was thinking of the corset factory as she 
said the last words, and the prosaic round of work 
to which, for a time at least, she must devote her 
energies, if she were to provide herself with the 
means of coming back to Merton Academy. She 
had groaned the day before, when Bertha men- 
tioned it, but the cheerful tone with which she 
herself alluded to it now would have done her 
sister good to hear. 

Mr. Hermon rose from his chair and walked 
around the room with his hands behind his 
back and his eyes fixed musingly on the floor. 
Suddenly a new idea seemed to dawn upon him. 
He stopped short, threw back his head, and 
appeared to be eyeing it with a fixity which would 
surely have put any idea not well founded and 
grounded quite out of countenance. 

Miss Orcutt,” he exclaimed, turning suddenly 
upon her, ^^what should you say to coming back 
next term as the teacher of the little school, the 
one you taught this morning ? You know it is 


IN MR. HERMON^S STUDY. 


275 


only in session half a day, and as no work is re- 
quired of the teacher out of school, you could, 
without doubt, keep up one or two of your studies 
and retain your connection with the Academy. 
The pay, though small, would cover your expenses. 
It is never less than twenty dollars a month, and 
might be more,” he added with a little smile, if 
the teacher were very popular.” 

Sue caught her breath. The suggestion was an 
overwhelming one, yet after all not so overwhelm- 
ing as the suggestion that she should act as a sub- 
stitute had been that morning. To tell the truth, 
however, the thought of the little school was for 
the moment quite swallowed up in the thought of 
the opportunity for study which the position would 
offer. 

Oh, Mr. Hermon,” she exclaimed, starting to 
her feet, ^^if I could do that I If I could just 
keep on in your Latin class, and have a little 
while every day in the library, it’s all I would 
ask.” 

Her heart bounded for a moment with the joy 
of the thought, and then came the sobering remem- 
brance that there were duties as well as privileges 
to be considered. Was she qualified to undertake 


276 THE ORCUTT GIRLS, 

those duties? Was there any certainty that she 
could perform them well ? She raised her eyes to 
Mr. Hermon’s again, and they were big and dark 
now with the gravity of the question. 

But, Mr. Hermon,’’ she said, do you really 
think I’m fit for such a place as that ? You 
know I never taught school except this morning, 
and of course that doesn’t count for real teaching. 
Do you think — oh, do you truly think I could 
do the work ? ” 

He had been watching her face for the last few 
moments, and the gleam in his eyes as she asked 
the question showed that it pleased him well. 

^^If I did not think you could do it, and do it 
well,” he said very gravely, ^^you may be sure I 
should not propose it, much as I should like to find 
a way for you to remain in the Academy. And I 
confess that for my own sake, as well as yours, I 
should like to keep you among my pupils.” 

She could not speak for a moment in the wave 
of happiness that swept over her. But the happi- 
ness somehow carried with it a great humility, 
and the memory of her own shortcomings flashed 
upon her at that instant with uncommon clear- 


ness. 


IN MR. HERMON'S STUDY. 


277 


I should like it, I should like it above all 
things,” she burst out with a quiver in her voice, 
but if you knew how many mistakes I make, 
and how forgetful — oh, how dreadfully forgetful 
— I am sometimes. I'm afraid you wouldn’t feel 
about it as you do now.” 

He sat down in his chair again, and for a 
moment looked searchingly into her eyes. What 
sort of things do you forget ? ” he asked quietly. 
‘^Do you forget how you felt when you were a 
child yourself ? Do you forget to be kindly and 
patient with the mistakes of those who have not 
had as long to try as you have ? 

God knows,” he exclaimed, breaking off sud- 
denly with a quick nervous accent in his voice, 
“we all forget too often, we teachers, who above 
all others ought to remember, but I will answer 
for it that that is not the kind of thing you are 
most inclined to forget. You will make mistakes 
of course. We all do. It is the way we have to 
learn. But we need not make the same mistakes 
over and over, and I do not think you will. You 
will do your honest best, and try to make it 
better every day. I am not afraid to trust you.” 

Her heart was too full to attempt a reply, and 


278 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


he went on after a moment in a lighter tone, 
Of course we can’t settle it to-night. You must 
consult your parents, and I the patrons of the 
school. You are rather young, and some of them 
may remind me of that fact, but I’ve known 
teachers no older than you who have done good 
work, and I think your success this morning will 
count for something. It is possible — of course it 
is possible — that there may be some one else in 
view. Miss Dearborn has already signified her 
intention of leaving the school at the end of the 
term, but, so far as I know, no successor has been 
mentioned. Well, we must think it all over and 
see what we can do. I have a feeling that the 
way will open for you to stay another term at 
Merton Academy.” 

I can’t tell you how much I thank you for 
wanting me to be here,” said Sue. 

The words were flat and inadequate. She knew 
it, but somehow there were no others at her com- 
mand that seemed any better. Perhaps, however, 
if she could have made that glowing little speech, 
full of such gratitude and devotion as pupil had 
never breathed to teacher before, which she felt 
that the occasion really demanded, he would not 


IN MR. HERMONS STUDY. 


279 


have heard her. His head had dropped back on 
his chair with that look of preoccupation which 
she knew so well. She felt that it was time now 
to go home, and she would have risen the next 
moment, had there not come just then a sound of 
steps on the stairs, — young, rushing steps, — fol- 
lowed the next instant by a sharp, double rap at 
the door. 

^^Why, that must be Dick,” said Mr. Hermon, 
rousing himself, and he added briskly, Come 


CHAPTER XIX. 


DICK HIMSELF. 

“FT certainly was Dick. Probably no one else 
came up to Mr. Hermon’s study in quite so 
noisy a fashion. He scarcely waited for the invi- 
tation to come in, but threw open the door and 
stepped across the threshold with the air of 
one who felt himself quite at home. His bright 
young face was all aglow with the tingle of the 
keen winter air, and there was a sharp little 
snapping between his hand and Mr. Hernipn’s, as 
the latter rose to greet him. 

^^Ah, you young rascal,’' he said, drawing back 
the next moment, what a shock you always 
give me, when you come bursting in this way ! ” 
Dick laughed. don’t see how I can help it, 
unless you refuse to shake hands with me ; and 
I really hope you won’t do that, Mr. Hermon.” 

There was something boyishly affectionate in 
his easy, light-hearted manner; and Sue could not 
help thinking that whatever tortures Dick Julian 

280 


DICK HIMSELF. 


281 


might inflict upon his instructor in the class- 
room, it must be worth something to the lonely 
old man to be looked in upon of an evening by 
a cheery young fellow, who carried with him 
such an air of abounding life. He did not offer 
to shake hands with Sue, but he had given her 
a quick, pleased little nod at the moment of 
entering, and she had returned it with a cordial 
smile, though she could not help wishing that 
she had said her good by before his coming. It 
was impossible to say it now, for he dashed at 
once into a matter of news, which he had appar- 
ently just received in a letter from home, and Mr. 
Hermon’s attention was so completely absorbed, 
that interruption was out of the question. 

I thought I must come in, and tell you about 
it,” Dick ended gayly, though I knew ’twas 
pretty late, and I hadn’t but a minute to stay. 
The fact is,” he added, looking rather virtuous, 
I’ve been up at Colby’s all the evening, working 
on the Cicero for to-morrow.” 

^^H’m!” grunted Mr. Hermon, ^^and hatching 
out an uncommon number of absurdities between 
you. I’ll warrant. You do better, each of you, 
to settle down to work by yourself. That’s the 


282 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


only way to get into the marrow of a thing. 
I’ll venture to say/’ he added, with a benignant 
glance at Sue, that Miss Orcutt doesn’t run 
around asking anybody to study the lesson with 
her.” 

I should like to know who the lucky fellow 
is, if she does,” laughed Dick ; and Mr. Herinon, 
remembering that she was the only girl in the 
class, laughed too. 

Sue rose, blushing of course, but feeling that 
her opportunity had come. Mr. Hermon,” she 
said, want to bid you good night,” and she 
added, with a little quiver in her voice, I shall 
never forget this evening.” 

He smiled, and shut her hand into his with a 
quick, strong pressure. Good night, my dear,” 
he said; shall not forget it, either, nor that 
plan of ours for next term.” 

Dick had risen, too, and was twirling his seal- 
skin cap in his hands. ^^What, so soon, Dick?” 
said Mr. Hermon, with a glance of surprise. 

‘‘Yes, I believe I’d better,” said the boy; and 
he added boldly, “I’m going Miss Orcutt’s way, 
and perhaps she’ll let me see her home.” 

“ Oh, in that cause I’ll let you off,” said Mr. 


DICK HIMSELF. 


283 


Hermon, and lie included them both in so benevo- 
lent a smile, that Sue could not help giving 
Dick another, and adding, Thank you,” in her 
pleasantest tone. 

^^Well,” said the boy, when they were fairly 
out of doors, so you really plucked up courage 
to come ! Did you find it as much of an ordeal 
as you expected ? ” 

Ordeal ! ” repeated Sue. It was heavenly. I 
never imagined anything like it.” 

Dick looked at his companion with an amused 
smile. He quite enjoyed dropping into Mr. Her- 
mon’s study himself ; but he could not honestly 
say that his feelings had ever carried him as far 
as this. 

I knew he was the grandest man in the 
world,” Sue went on, in an ecstasy, which she did 
not try to smother ; but I had no idea he was 
so kind, so interested in everything one did or 
tried to do, and so anxious to help. He asked 
me all about our coming to Merton, and how we 
had enjoyed being here; and when I told him 
we could only stay one term, he seemed as sorry 
as if it meant something to him personally. And 
then, — oh, it seems as if I must have been 


284 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


dreaming, — he suggested that perhaps I could 
stay as teacher of the little school, and that 
would give me a chance to go on with my 
studies at the same time.” 

Dick gave a low, astonished whistle. From his 
point of view it was simply impossible to under- 
stand what such a proposal meant to a girl like Sue 
Orcutt. 

She caught the note of surprise, and added 
quickly, don’t wonder you’re amazed. I was 
myself. I never taught school, and it doesn’t 
seem as if I were fit for such a position. I told 
him so, too, but he said he’d trust me.” 

Oh, I don’t mean that,” said Dick, recovering 
himself. You’ll get along with that part all 
right. I think myself ’twould be a regular picnic 
for the children. But the work is what I’m 
thinking of. It’s bad enough to do the studying 
one has to, but to teach school into the bargain ! 
Seems to me that’s doubling things up with a 
vengeance.” 

But if ’twas the only chance of going on with 
your studying at all ! ” exclaimed Sue, perhaps 
you wouldn’t mind the doubling up then"' 

^^I’m afraid I should,” said Dick grimly. ^^In 


DICK HIMSELF. 


285 

fact, I think I should swear off altogether. But 
I know how you feel about getting an education, 
and I suppose that makes a difference.” 

Yes,” responded Sue quietly, “ that makes a 
difference.” She was silent a moment, then with 
a thrill in her voice said, Mr. Hermon under- 
stands it. He knew what ’twould mean to me to 
stay, and I never, never can thank him enough 
for wanting me to have the chance. Don’t you 
think ’twas wonderfully good in him ? ” 

^^Well, yes, ’twas , good, of course,” admitted 
Dick, in a tone which seemed to Sue exasperat- 
ingly cool. He does take a tremendous interest 
in helping scholars get ahead, that’s certain. 
But I can tell you, it wasn’t all pure, unadul- 
terated benevolence on his part this time. He’s 
come to depend on you, and ’twould really go 
hard with him to lose you out of the class.” 

Sue thought of that word of his, which had 
almost melted her heart with happiness, about 
wanting to keep her among his pupils, and made 
no reply except by one of those blushes which 
rose in her face so easily. 

That’s a fact,” pursued Dick, ^“^your way of 
translating is after his own heart, and then he’s 


286 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


got into the habit of looking right down into 
your corner every time he says a good thing. 
He knows you take it in, and he has some 
doubts about the rest of us. His stories too — it 
gives him a chance to get off all the old ones 
with telling effect. That anecdote, now, about 
Daniel Webster, or some other great man, who 
reproved the reporter for making him say ^pene- 
trate,’ when he really said ^ pierce ’ — he’s pointed 
a moral on using short words, with that story, 
ever since I’ve been at Merton, but the way you 
looked when he told it this morning made him 
think ’twas a brand-new thing.” He laughed in 
his light, merry way, and added, tell you he 
thinks a sight of you, and we all know it.” 

It was in Sue’s heart to say that he could not 
think a millionth part as much of her as she did 
of him, but there was a sacredness about her 
feeling for Mr. Hermon which somehow made it 
impossible to say it, and she remarked instead, 
rather abruptly : 

^‘Do you know, I got the idea, before I came, 
that he liked boys better than girls, at least that 
he’d rather have them here as students.” 

^^Well, I guess that depends on the kind of 


DICK HIMSELF. 


287 


boys they are and the kind of girls/’ said Dick 
gayly. He’d like anybody who went into things 
the way you do.” 

It occurred to Sue at this point that she herself 
had really been talked about quite long enough, 
and she turned the conversation suddenly to a 
discussion of Mr. Hermon’s study, a theme on 
which she grew fairly eloquent, with Dick in full 
agreement, especially as to the charms of the open 
fire and the big easy chairs. 

By the time they had finished, they had almost 
reached Deacon Porter’s. The lights were out in 
the front of the house, but there was a pleasant 
glow from the low windows in the ell, and Sue, 
looking up at them, caught her breath with a 
happy little sigh. Oh,” she exclaimed, I’ve 
thought so many times lately how soon we should 
have to give up those rooms to somebody else, 
and now perhaps we shall be in them ourselves 
for a whole term longer ! ” 

^^You needn’t have a bit of doubt of it,” said 
Dick warmly. ^Hf Mr. Hermon’s got that scheme 
in his head about your having the little school, 
he’ll put it through, and not let the grass grow 
under his feet either.” 


288 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


He looked up at the windows himself for a 
minute, then said reflectively, always thought 
it must be awfully jolly boarding one’s self. I’ve 
had a notion sometimes that I’d go into it myself 
if I could get some fellow that knew how to go 
in with me.” 

Sue laughed. I don’t believe you’d like it,” 
she said. 

Why not ? ” demanded Dick. I camped out 
for a week once, and I never had such fun in my 
life. To be sure,” he added with a tone of one 
who wished to look at the question fairly, and on 
all sides, it might be rather monotonous if you 
had to put in the greater part of your time doing 
housework, but I should think a body could stack 
up the dishes as an ordinary thing, and get some 
woman, who wanted to turn an honest penny, to 
come in and wash up the whole batch once a 
week, and give the beds a shaking. I think my- 
self there’s too much fuss made over housekeep- 

• if 

mg. 

He suggested these truly Bohemian ideas with a 
gravity of tone which amused Sue vastly, then 
went on, ^^But the part I should like best would 
be making out my own bill of fare. When you’re 


DICK HIMSELF, 


289 


boarding with other folks, you know, you have to 
take baked beans, and dried beef, and codfish, 
just as often as your landlady sees fit to bring 
them on; but if you were boarding yourself, you 
could change all that, and have chicken and 
dumpling every day, if you liked.’’ 

Perhaps you wouldn’t have them at all, if you 
boarded yourself,” laughed Sue. ^^That is, if you 
did it, as most of us do, for the sake of econ- 
omy.” 

^^Well, I shouldn’t go into it for that so much,” 
said Dick (he was always modest over the fact of 
having plenty of money), but for the ^ glorious 
privilege of being independent,’ you know.” 

He flattered himself that this was rather a neat 
turn, and being a little afraid that his companion, 
who was so much better posted on the hymn book 
than the British poets, might not recognize it, 
added, That’s what Burns said, you know. I 
always did like Burns.” 

I like him too,” said Sue eagerly, though I 
never had a chance to read anything of his till 
the other day in the library. Which poem has 
that expression in it?” 

It occurred to Dick that a little learning really 
u 


290 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


was a dangerous thing, especially if one attempted 
to air it. But there was no help for hiha now. 

Well, I’m not quite sure ; maybe it’s Tam o’ 
Shanter,” he said, quaking inwardly, and Sue, 
whose acquaintance with Burns did not include 
that particular poem, received the statement with- 
out further question. 

They had reached the gate now, and Dick held 
it open for her to pass through. Possibly he 
hoped she might ask him to come in, but it never 
once occurred to her to do so. She thanked him, 
however, a second time for coming home with 
her, and left him with so warm a good night 
that no sensible boy could have considered himself 
snubbed. 

The door was open at the head of the stairs, 
and the gleam of the student lamp lighted her to 
the rooms above. Bertha, however, had already 
retired. Sue stole into the dim little bedroom 
and found her fast asleep. For a moment she 
wanted to wake her, and tell her of the new 
hope which might mean so much to them both, 
but she remembered that her sister had spoken of 
being very tired earlier in the evening, and re- 
frained. Besides, it was somehow pleasant to sit 


DICK HIMSELF. 


291 


there in the stillness alone with her own hap- 
piness. It was almost too deep for words, and 
for the second time since coming to Merton, Sue 
wondered whether she had not somehow slipped 
into Heaven without knowing it. 


CHAPTER XX. 


THE QUESTION OF SUE's FUTURE IS UNDER DIS- 
CUSSION. 

"jTXICK JULIAN was quite right in thinking that 
Mr. Hermon would not let the grass grow 
or (to use a figure better adapted to the season) 
the snow melt under his feet in his efforts to 
realize for Sue the hope he had suggested on that 
memorable evening. He was undoubtedly one of 
the Children of Light, but none of the children of 
this world could work more wisely than he in the 
carrying out of a pet scheme. A few mornings 
later he paid a visit to the little school, and 
after a short conversation with the teacher, ad- 
dressed himself to the pupils on this wise : 

Children, I presume you know that Miss Dear- 
born will not be with you after this term. Now 
how would you like to have for your next teacher 
the young lady who was here a few mornings 
ago ? The one,” he added cunningly, who told 
you the new story about Silverhair and the Bears ? ” 

292 


SUE'S FUTURE UNDER DISCUSSION. 


293 


Every child in the room raised his hand in an 
instant, several, indeed, lifting both, and one or 
two bringing them together above their heads 
with a resounding clap. 

That will do,” said Mr. Hermon, smiling at 
them in his most benignant manner. I shall see 
your parents about this very soon, but you can 
tell them what you know about Miss Orcutt, and 
how you liked her, without waiting for me.” 

There was no doubt that his suggestion was 
carried out to the letter. The parents on whom 
he called within the next few days were remark- 
ably well posted as to the peculiar fitness of Miss 
Susan Orcutt for the post. 

I suppose she worked up that story on pur- 
pose to win the hearts of the children,” said one 
of the mothers, an influential person, on whom 
Mr. Hermon had thought it well to call first. It 
was a clever stroke, but of course she couldn’t 
keep up that sort of thing if she went in there 
for regular work.” 

Mr. Hermon looked amused. She had no more 
idea of being asked to teach that school than I have,” 
he said. But it shows what she can do in an emer- 
gency. She’s a girl of resources.” 


294 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


^^But I understand she’s very young,” said the 
lady politely, ^^and that she’s never taught in her 
life. Of course,” she added quickly, there has to 
be a first time for everything. But in a school 
like the little Academy we naturally want some 
one who has had experience and is posted in the 
latest systems of education.” 

The latest systems ! ” quoth Mr. Hermon, be- 
ginning to look dangerous. I’d give more for 
one live teacher, with an eye in her head and a 
little downright enthusiasm for her work, than all 
the cut and dried systems that ever were invented.” 

The lady laughed. Every one in Merton knew 
the consequences of arousing Mr. Hermon on cer- 
tain phases of modern education, and she had no 
idea of engaging in a tilt with him that morning. 

“ So you really think Miss Orcutt has the quali- 
ties that go to make a first-class teacher ? ” she 
asked soothingly. 

I think,” said Mr. Hermon, with returning 
calmness, that she would undertake the work 
with an uncommon desire to do her duty, and 
that she has too much good sense and good feel- 
ing to make many mistakes as to what that 
duty really is. I think also that she has two 


SUE^S FUTURE UNDER DISCUSSION. 


295 


qualities, invaluable in a teacher for children, — 
enthusiasm and imagination. She is young, as 
you say; but she would at least bring to her 
work an amount of courage, and a freshness of 
feeling, in which age and experience are some- 
times sadly wanting.’’ 

^‘It is certainly in her favor that she has won 
your confidence so completely,” said the lady ; 
‘^but I understand she would go on with her 
studies in the Academy. Isn’t that a little — just 
a little — in the line of serving two masters?” 

Perhaps so,” said Mr. Hermon, with a quick, 
upward jerk of his head ; I wish with all my 
heart that she need only devote herself to one, 
and that one Merton Academy. However, I can- 
not see that there need be any conflict between 
her duties. The two masters are not hostile, and 
I find no reason why she should not render 
honest service to both. I was myself a tutor 
in college during nearly all the time I was a 
student there; and I do not remember that any 
complaints were ever made of my work.” 

The lady leaned back in her chair, with the air 
of one who felt herself completely vanquished. 
^^Now, Mr. Hermon,” she said, with her brightest 


296 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


smile, if you mean to intimate that Miss Orciitt’s 
gifts are in the least like yours, you know very 
well that the argument is ended. I did think of 
suggesting a graduate of a Normal School for our 
next teacher, but I assure you I shall not do it. 
With you and the children all so ardently in favor 
of this young person I certainly think the matter 
should be considered settled.” 

It really was settled, so far as Mr. Hermon and 
the patrons of the school were concerned, but there 
was still a good deal of thinking and talking to be 
done by the Orcutt family. Sue had despatched 
a letter at once to her father and mother, telling 
them of the opportunity which might be hers, and 
dutifully leaving the question of its acceptance to 
their judgment and decision. The answer she 
knew would not be long delayed, and pending its 
arrival there was more than one consultation in 
the attic chambers. 

Bertha had been, if possible, more surprised at 
Mr. Hermon' s proposal than Sue herself ; for the 
latter, in reporting her morning’s experience in 
the little school, had made nothing of her success, 
and Bertha could only attribute Mr. Hermon’ s 
action to his personal interest in her sister, and 


SUE^S FUTURE UNDER DISCUSSION. 


297 


some belief on his part (which she did not alto- 
gether share) that the girl who was so good a 
pupil would be an equally good teacher. It was 
the little dressmaker who, in her next visit to the 
room, really threw the first light on the puzzling 
question. 

^^Why, Sue just took those children by storm, 
and they’re all wild to have her for their teacher 
next term,” she declared, when Bertha, in Sue’s 
absence from the room, introduced the subject. 
must say,” she added candidly, that I shouldn’t 
have picked 5ut Sue, half as quick as I should you, 
for such a position as that ; but Mr. Hermon appears 
to be just as eager for it as the children are, and 
I’ll take his opinion in a matter of that kind 
every time. He’s a born teacher himself, and the 
way he dives into people and finds out what 
they’re good for is something marvellous. 

^^Well,” she continued, turning to the girl her- 
self, who entered at that moment, ^^I hear you’re 
a candidate for the little school at the Academy. 
Don’t you think that’s rather presumptuous on 
your part, young woman ? ” 

^^No,” said Sue, meeting the twinkle in Miss 
Graham’s eyes with one of its own sort; ^Ht’s 


298 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


modesty, not presumption, that ails me. Mr. Her- 
mon is every bit responsible for the plan, and I 
have such respect for his opinion that I couldn’t 
think of setting up my own in opposition. He 
said he’d trust me, and now I propose to trust 
myself.” 

“ That’s good,” said Miss Graham, with an ap- 
proving nod, and then she added cordially, Well, 
I’m real glad you’re going to have it. Of course 
Mr. Hermon will carry his point if he’s set his 
heart upon it, and I’ve not a bit more doubt than 
he has that you’ll make a success of it.” 

“ I think Bertha has,” said Sue, glancing rather 
ruefully at her sister, ^^and I’m afraid the folks 
at home will feel the same way. The trouble is 
they know me so well.” 

It’s the case of the prophet without honor in 
his own country, my dear,” said the little dress- 
maker, ^^and no great blame to the countrymen 
either. We can’t look at things fairly when 
they’re too close to us, you know. We have 
to get the right perspective to see anything great.” 

Such as an unfledged primary teacher,” inter- 
posed Sue. 

Bertha joined in the smile that followed. Then 


SUE^S FUTURE UNDER DISCUSSION. 


299 


she said, in her perfectly straightforward way, 

I have felt a little anxious about your taking 
that position. Sue ; I won’t deny it. But nobody 
knows better than I what splendid things you can 
do, when you really put your heart into doing 
them.” 

Sue breathed a soft little sigh. I know what 
you’re thinking of,” she said. ‘^You’re afraid I 
shall get so wrapped up in other things that I 
shall neglect my work. I know I’m a miserable 
sinner in that respect, and am always leaving 
undone the things I ought to do, especially when 
there’s a generous soul like yourself ready to do 
them in my place, without saying a word. But 
if I really get that little school, I mean to give 
my mind to it in dead earnest for half the day, 
and perhaps I shan’t do as badly as you think.” 

It’s a good thing for you that it comes in the 
morning,” said Miss Graham ; and then she asked 
briskly, ^^How much do you get for it? I mean 
what’s the consideration in actual hard cash ? ” 
Twenty dollars a month,” said Sue promptly. 

Mr. Hermon said I could count on that.” 

^^H’m,” grunted Miss Graham; little enough, 
I should hope.” 


300 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


‘^And large enough, I’m sure,” said Sue eagerly, 
will cover our expenses. We have not aver- 
aged as much as that this term.” 

^^But I shall not he here,” said Bertha, turn- 
ing quietly to her sister. ^^You speak as if you 
were planning for us both.” 

Why ! why ! Of course you will be here,” 
gasped Sue ; I never thought of anything else.” 
But I have, from the very first,” said Bertha. 

Do you really think I could be satisfied to live 
on your earnings, and have twice as much advan- 
tage from them as you were having yourself ? ” 

^^I’m sure I don’t see what difference it makes 
who has the most advantage,” cried Sue, fairly 
overwhelmed with surprise and distress. If you 
can go to school all day instead of half a day, 
it’s just so much the better. Oh, Bertha, you 
wouldn’t be so mean as to stand back, just be- 
cause it was /, instead of you, that was earning 
the money ? ” 

^^No, I wouldn’t,” said Bertha, flushing a little, 
^^if that were the only reason. I could let you 
do this thing for me — ” she hesitated a moment, 
then, with characteristic honesty, repeated, I 
think I could let you, almost as willingly as I 


SUE^S FUTURE UNDER DISCUSSION. 


301 


would do it for you, if it were my chance instead 
of yours. But your earnings would not be really 
enough for us both, Sue, for father could not 
take the time to bring us supplies as he has this 
winter.. Besides, mother needs one of us at home 
in the spring. Think how hard it would be for 
her if we were both away.” 

But how could I get along without you ? ” 
protested Sue, almost sobbing. “ It is you who 
have managed everything, and made it all a suc- 
cess. Mr. Hermon said there might be more than 
twenty dollars, and we will be more economical 
than ever. Perhaps we could even send a part 
of it home to pay for help. Oh, we will be so 
careful ! Bertha, you must be here ! ” 

^^Just think,” said the little dressmaker, trying 
to speak lightly, though her voice was a trifle 
shaky, what the consequences might be of leav- 
ing Sue to her own devices. Consider the effect, 
on her constitution, of the pies she would make, 
and the effect on her purse of the investments 
in — ” 

Now, Miss Graham ! ” protested Sue, and the 
laugh which rippled through the room at that 
moment was a relief to them all. 


302 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS, 


why should Sue board herself at all?’’ 
said Bertha quietly, when the laugh had died 
away. she is to do double duty, she ought, 

for her own sake, to be quite free from the work 
of housekeeping, and if we were to go on, living 
as we are now, she would feel that she ought to 
do as much as ever. No, Sue, no,” she added, 
her clear blue eyes meeting her sister’s with a 
look very tender and steady. I’ve been think- 
ing it all through, and I’m sure it wouldn’t be 
best. You will have money enough to board in 
some good family, and that would be the better 
way. It would be the only fair way, generous 
as you are.” 

Sue covered her face with her hands. She 
honestly felt at that moment that all the happi- 
ness of being at Merton Academy would be lost 
for her if Bertha were not there, but her voice 
was not steady enough to say it, and wise, true- 
hearted Bertha would have known better than to 
believe it if she had. 

It was Miss Graham who broke the silence. 

Well,” she said, with a little preliminary whisk 
of her handkerchief, I always knew, Bertha 
Orcutt, that you were an uncommonly level-headed 


SUE'S FUTURE UNDER DISCUSSION. 


303 


girl, and I’m more convinced of it now than ever. 
You are exactly right, and Sue will see it herself 
before long. 

^^And now that we’re in the line of planning, I 
have an idea too. I believe Mrs. Porter would 
board Sue, and let her keep these rooms just as 
they are. Then they’ll be all ready for you both, 
when you come back in the fall, for you’ll come, 
of course. Oh, I see how everything is going 
to be, and I’ve a good mind to dance a jig over 
it right now.” 

You’d better wait till we get that letter from 
home,” said Bertha discreetly. And yet,” she 
added, I’m not much afraid it’ll upset our plan, 
as far as Sue’s staying is concerned.” 

She had no reason to be. The letter which came 
a few days later gave hearty consent to Sue’s 
accepting the post of teacher, should the oppor- 
tunity really be hers, and the view which Bertha 
had taken of the matter proved to be the one 
which the council at home had already adopted. 
Mrs. Orcutt was not an effusive woman, and if 
she felt elated over the honor which was con- 
templated for her second daughter, she did not 
disclose it. Neither did she express any doubt 


304 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


of the girl’s fitness for the position, on the score 
of youth and inexperience, but she wrote signifi- 
cantly, think you know, my dear child, that 
it will require your best energies to fill such a 
place, and you will need to ^ watch and fight and 
pray ’ if you fill it well ” ; a passage which Sue 
read with a heightened color, and a devout deter- 
mination to do her best. 


CHAPTER XXI. 


THE LAST DAYS. 


HERE was but a small portion remaining now 



of the winter term at Merton Academy, and 
the days glided away so fast that, as Sue said, a 
body could scarcely wink at one before it w^as gone. 
She wondered sometimes how she would have felt 
if she had known they were actually to be her last 
in that happy place. Even with the knowledge 
that she was coming back, which Mr. Hermon very 
soon made definite, it was hard to let them go, 
and it was really Bertha who, with home and the 
corset factory before her, showed the more philo- 
sophic spirit in these closing days. They were 
unmarked by any great or surprising incidents, 
and the Interview,” with which the term ended, 
was perhaps the only event worthy of further 
mention. 

It was a time-honored affair, this Interview,” as 
it was called, to which the last evening of the term 
was always devoted ; and the time which the stu- 
X 305 


3o6 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


dents spent together, in easy chat, or in prome- 
nading about the assembly hall to the music of a 
mild orchestra, with a modest treat, and perhaps 
a little talk from Mr. Hermon thrown in, was, in 
the opinion of most of them, no mean occasion. 

Sue and Bertha were there, of course, and there 
were few of their fellow-students who did not take 
pains to congratulate the one on her prospect 
of coming back, and express to the other their 
sincere regret that, for a time at least, she must 
be away. The dignified young senior seemed in 
particular to be much depressed over the latter 
circumstance, and Sue could not help thinking that 
her sister’s face expressed rather more regret while 
talking with him on the subject, than she usually 
allowed to appear. 

Dick Julian was there with Alma Lynn, but 
early in the evening he secured a promenade with 
Sue, in the course of which he laughingly informed 
her that it was he who put Mr. Hermon up ” to 
taking that vote among the children ; and Sue, 
who had not heard before of the voting, was much 
interested. 

“ Of course,” added Dick, who was really not 
given to exaggerating the importance of his own 


THE LAST DA YS, 


307 


services, it didn’t make any difference to speak 
of, but I thought the little kids could help the 
cause along, and save him some talking. He’s 
tremendously pleased with the way it’s come out. 
And so am I,” he added frankly. 

Probably if Sue could have spent the evening 
just as she liked, she would have employed a large 
part of it in conversation with Mr. Hermon ; but 
he was always surrounded when she tried to ap- 
proach him, and thinking of the days that were 
to come, and that evening of blessed memory when 
she sat in his study and talked and listened, with 
no one to interrupt, she felt that it would be 
selfish in her to claim many of these last moments. 
She had the satisfaction, however, of passing him 
cake and ice-cream, and this was worth something. 

It was a simple, old-fashioned affair, this In- 
terview,” and all the more so that its festivities 
ended at half-past ten o’clock. Mr. Hermon him- 
self called the attention of the young people to 
the hour. Scholars,” he said, tapping vigorously 
on the table to check for a moment the stream of 
chatter, it is growing late, and all of you, I know, 
have duties awaiting you in the morning. Some 
of you have trunks to pack and other preparations 


3o8 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


to make for leaving town. It is pleasant to spend 
these last moments together, but we shall not 
escape the regret of parting by deferring it. Let 
us bid each other and the Academy good by, for 
a while, in a hearty round of Auld Lang Syne.” 

The orchestra struck up the familiar air, and 
though some voices quavered a little, it was a 
strong, deep chorus to which the old walls re- 
sounded. When it was ended, the company broke 
up ; and before the clock on the church steeple 
struck eleven, the Academy was deserted and the 
lights were out. 

It was the next day that the Orcutt girls went 
home. In spite of the dissipation of the night 
before, they were up early in the morning and 
getting everything briskly in readiness for depart- 
ure. The idea that renters are in nowise respon- 
sible for the appearance of the quarters they leave 
behind had never dawned upon these old-fashioned 
roomers, and the straightening up ” to which the 
attic rooms were subjected was of the most thorough 
sort. 

Why, you’re not leaving a thing for me to do 
after you’re gone,” said good Mrs. Porter, looking 
in, in the course of the forenoon, and observing 


THE LAST DAYS. 


309 


with amazement that Sue was polishing the win- 
dows and Bertha removing every speck from the 
pantry shelves. 

‘^Well, I should think ’twas pretty mean if we 
did/’ replied Sue, pausing for a moment in her 
work, and then renewing it with redoubled energy. 

‘‘Well, if you knew how I’ve had to dig out 
the corners after some roomers ! ” said the land- 
lady significantly, and then she gave a little sigh, 
and said she wished she could keep the present 
incumbents to the end of her days. 

The work was somewhat lightened for them, 
and very greatly lightened for the good deacon, 
their father, who appeared wdth the gray horse 
and the old “pung” just at noon, from the fact 
that most of the furniture they had brought with 
them was to remain for Sue during the following 
term. The cooking-utensils she could indeed 
spare, as she was henceforth to sit at the table 
of the Porters ; and it is doubtful whether, with 
all her devotion to Bertha, she really felt much 
grief at seeing the pots and kettles stowed under 
the seat of the venerable old sleigh. There were 
a few supplies from the pantry to be taken home, 
but Bertha had managed things with so much 


310 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


prudence that very little room was needed for the 
groceries which w^ere to be added to the larder at 
the old farmhouse. In the cellar there was a 
larger remnant of the winter’s store left, but this 
Deacon Orcutt promptly decided to leave in its 
place. Why, we’ve got apples enough and all 

that sort of thing,” he remarked to Deacon Porter, 
as, with lantern in hand, the latter assisted him 
in his work of inspection, and there isn’t a bit 
of need of lugging ’em home again. That is,” 
he added, with a look of gentle inquiry, ^^if you 
can make any use of ’em here.” 

His companion lost no time in assuring him 
that the Porter family not only could make use 
of whatever in the line of vegetables their good 
friend chose to leave, but that they would come 
in “uncommonly handy”; and the heartiness wdth 
which he said it would have destroyed any regrets 
on Deacon Orcutt’s part (had he really had any) 
for the over-abundance with which he had sup- 
plied his daughters’ table. He seemed, however, 
to feel a little disappointed that the young ladies’ 
appetites had not more nearly reached his own 
estimate. 

“Why, I thought they’d have used up all these 


THE LAST DAYS. 


3II 

things and called for more/’ he said, turning a 
little heap of smooth, brown-jacketed potatoes with 
his foot as he spoke. ’Pears to me they haven’t 
eaten as hearty as they do at home.” 

Well, I guess they hain’t suffered any,” said 
Deacon Porter ; and he added, with the accent of 
one w^ho felt a personal interest in the appearance 
of his lodgers, I must say I never saw two girls 
look better at the end of a season than they do. 
Mother and I were speaking of it only the other 
day, how well and hearty they look.” 

^‘Well, I think myself there’s nothing to com- 
plain of in their looks,” admitted their father; and 
he added, with a confidential chuckle, The fact 
is. Deacon, they’re a pretty good-looking pair of 
girls most any time in the year.” 

That’s a fact,” responded the other cordially. 
He had a subtile divination of his brother’s weak 
point, and he added with increasing unction, 
don’t blame you a mite. Deacon, not a mite, for 
being proud of those girls of yours. We’ve had 
students in our house, boarders and roomers, for 
the last twenty years, but we never had any that 
we liked as well as we like them; never. They 
hain’t made a spec o’ trouble all winter. Mother 


312 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


was saying, just last night, that she never did see 
a couple o’ girls that were so comfortable to get 
along with, so pleasant and sensible, you know, 
day in and day out.” 

Deacon Orcutt’s face glowed in the dim light 
of the cellar like a veritable jack-o’-lantern, and he 
wished he had brought an extra bushel of Rox- 
bury russets to add to those in the bottom of the 
barrel. 

I knew that’s what you’d say about ’em ! ” he 
exclaimed. came near telling you what sort of 
girls they were when I engaged the rooms, but I 
knew you’d find out for yourself before the winter 
was over.” 

The good man of the house might have re- 
minded him that he really did enlarge on that 
point, at the time referred to, with considerable 
fulness, but with delicate consideration he re- 
frained. 

Well, we have found out sure enough,” he 
said with an emphatic nod, and we ain’t the only 
ones in Merton neither. I tell you they’ve made 
a record for themselves at the Academy.” 

‘‘1 guess that must be so,” said Deacon Orcutt, 
with an amusing effort to conceal the paternal 


THE LAST DAYS. 


313 


pride in his voice with a judicial accent. ^^We 
were a little surprised when Susan wrote us about 
the offer she’d had to teach that school. And 
yet,” he added briskly, detecting in his companion’s 
face that he too had shared the feeling, I don’t 
know as ’twas anything to be surprised at either. 
Sue isn’t as old as some, but she’s got a sight of 
gumption, and when she really gives her mind to 
a thing ” (it was impossible not to fall into the 
family phrase at this point), I never knew her to 
fail of putting it through in first-class style. The 
fact is,” he added, with the tone of one who feels 
that he is getting a large subject into a nutshell, 
that’s the way their mother does things, and the 
girls take after her, every one of ’em.” 

It was well for the good man that he had this 
opportunity of freeing his mind on the subject of 
his daughters in the privacy of the cellar, other- 
wise he might have felt impelled to do it in a 
more public place, where there would have been 
no small danger of his being impeded by admonish- 
ing glances from the girls themselves. As it was, 
he was able to turn his mind to other subjects for 
the rest of his short stay, and during the dinner, 
which Mrs. Porter had insisted on preparing for 


314 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


them all, he was chiefly occupied in discussing 
with his brother deacon the spiritual condition 
of the churches to which they severally minis- 
tered. 

If Miss Graham could only have shared the 
meal with them, it would have made the pleasure 
of the little party complete ; and had it not been 
for the making of a wedding garment for which 
the owner could obviously not be asked to wait, 
she would probably have sacrificed this last day to 
seeing her young friends off. As it was, she took 
her farewell glimpse of them early in the morning, 
and added to her good by and blessing, a message 
for their mother, and a set of colored fashion 
plates for the little girls at home. 

Not much time remained for the travellers when 
the meal was over. I guess we shall have to do 
as the beggars' do, — eat and run,” said Deacon 
Orcutt, pulling out his watch and noting with 
surprise that it was already past one o’clock. 

And his host responded cordially, That’s all 
right. Deacon ; that’s all right ! You’ve got a long 
ride before you, and we don’t want you to stand 
on ceremony,” to which his wife added, with a 
smile at the girls, No, indeed ! the sooner jmu 


THE LAST DAYS. 


315 


get home now, the better. I expect your mother 
and sisters will be on pins and needles till they 
see you coming.” 

It would seem as if no time were left for 
regrets in the bustle of these last few minutes ; 
but when everything else had been said and done, 
the girls could not resist the impulse to steal up 
stairs for one more glimpse of those empty rooms. 
The silence, as of a place deserted, seemed to have 
fallen upon them already, and the consciousness 
that the winter at Merton Academy was really 
ended took possession of the sisters as it had not 
done before. 

^Mt’s a good time that we’ve had here together. 
Sue,” said Bertha, breaking the silence, with a 
little quiver in her voice. 

Sue could not speak. She drew closer to the 
window and looked off at the birch tree on the 
hill, which seemed now, in its eager pose, to be 
bidding them good by, as it had seemed to be 
giving them welcome on the day when they saw 
it first. Her eyes filled with tears, tears not so 
much of sorrow for the thing that was past as 
of sadness in the fact of its passing. There was 
pain in the thought that this chapter in the book 


3i6 


THE ORCUTT GIRLS. 


of her life, whose leaves could never turn back, 
was read through to the end. 

Ready, girls, ready ! ” It was their father s 
voice calling from the foot of the stairs. 

^^All right,” they responded, and three minutes 
later they were in the old sleigh, waving good by 
to the Porters and the village of Merton. 

The further incidents in the lives of the Orcutt 
Girls ; the experiences of the following terms at 
the Academy ; all these things will be told in the 
sequel to the present story which will be called 

Sue Orcutt. 


705 


V 
















V 



.0 o * W 

- 7 ; > " \ , » 7 » ’ - ,.o- ,. , „ %/ rrr, • \ / , . , , 


. V 1 B O '< 


* A>‘ «/> 

.\V >j 

$1 -i 

0 « X ^ V ^ 

H <>p ' ^‘-V C 0 


ry y 

O I ^0 

-/> ^ ^ ^ V < » 



c. ^ » ^\V <f^ 

. A 

0 , V. v'^ 

x> A ' 0 ^ < 



* .1 N O ’ .i®' '°.l, " * 1 O * ' i , 

>- 'f.is^'^.'r. '^. . A, » 


A'^’ 


V ifi 


A'- 




- " % vV 

(^S ' ^' ** 


A.- .\v 



'>%. "■ ' ’-^ r.\ 

-.T'V/ '■< -7 . * 

^^7 '■ A J-'^ % 

*'''* v'>'' s' ••'/"> *•''■’ 

A' **' * '-^ir ^ 

^<P ^V ^ '1 V* « ^ z 







V' . 


\ I 8 


^ y ,, , 'b A O '^ / 

A ‘> . '“ - ^ O 







N 

<0 

It 

y 

■N ^ \ 1 

r\ > <■ 

r'^ '" /^ 

\j #;-v7 

' " ^ 'Cp 

///\^ 'J 



c 0 4 - 

. 1 ^ *> 



rt K r* ^ ii it ^ '*S t I ft 

0 ^ f- <. 'o. . 0 ^ . ® 

<:? o' » > 



' rv\^ //>'i o '^‘n <■ V 

r^ ✓ V CL^' 

' o «i X .A <^ 1 ^ s ,0 





xN- 


V* A 


* v.o'^ ,,„ % ^ •.,.*’ s\'' 

0 ix ^ ^ \ 

’^•A' *A\M/V= ' 

irmnnnfi^- > ^ D . q 


V‘77o’ 

\> . ^ ^ O y .V ^ ' - '• r 

■y ^ rIv\^R/ ^ ° 


i'’’^.. °#W‘ .0^^' 'O'/-., , 

V I fl ^ ^ A^ 0 N c ^ 



A •A. 


^ ^ f'w 




A I fl 




^ 0 <. X ■* .A 

A' 


N r: 





^ar .1 

o 

^ ^O'-' s. ^ * «V 

' llw^r .x^' 

■' A ^ \^ . ^ * fl. lix ^ -A 

lA 0 N c '/'* ' I> ft '> '' . , g <X ^ 0 « \ 1 \ 

!>^ >°-. % <0 <s>' y J^-, .# .‘‘ 

" ^ ^ 



^ / 


* t> 




<< O O' 

’ 4 - 7 ^ ■" 

„ 'V O^ ^ % irx^^ 

o.^ '^:j^ 0 

^ ^ ^ 0 V 0 " ^0-’ '^O 'x 

^ '^C^ “’ ' v> 


9 ^ 


,x' 

^ * '-J ^ -i r^ y \ C.X 

^ 9 ' ' * X- "^y. ^ ^ ^ ^ i ^ H ^ ^ V 1 5 . 

N -7 <y. ^ ^ o^ * 0 - ^ .. < 




